Zacharia pictured with Trump on Monday. Alamy Stock Photo
no hard feelings
Katie Zacharia has praised her now former boss Donald Trump following her swift departure from the White House.
FORMER WHITE HOUSE press secretary Katie Zacharia has signed off with a glowing tribute to Donald Trump after losing her job just five days into the role.
Zacharia, whose brief stint was overshadowed by a rocky debut press briefing and questions about her legal qualifications, praised the US president in a post on X following her departure.
“President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man. I wish more Americans appreciated him,” Zacharia wrote.
“No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to.
“It was an honor to work for him.”
President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man. I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to. It was an honor to work for him. https://t.co/Tp4NizrhE2
— Katie Zacharia (@KatieZacharia) October 17, 2026
Her message came after a White House official confirmed on Friday that Zacharia was leaving the role, just hours after Trump publicly suggested she should reconsider the position.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said she had been treated “very badly” and “very unfairly” by the media.
“I just spoke to her about it. I said ‘Katie, is this for you?’. Because she’s been treated very rough, and she’s a nice person,” Trump said.
Zacharia faced criticism following her first White House press briefing on Tuesday, which lasted just 14 minutes and saw her take questions from three conservative news outlets.
Further questions emerged about her professional background after it was revealed that, despite previously describing herself as a lawyer, she had failed the bar exam and had never practised law in the US.
In comments to The Wall Street Journal following her departure, Zacharia defended her efforts in the role.
“I did everything in my power to effectuate a briefing in the limited time and information I had,” Zacharia said.
“My goal was to serve President Trump and the American people to the best of my ability.”
Zacharia’s five-day tenure was even shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci, who famously lasted just 11 days as White House communications director during Trump’s first administration.
Trump has since indicated that he’s in no rush to appoint a replacement.
Additional reporting from AFP