Katie Zacharia has stepped down as White House press secretary after just five days in the role, following criticism of her first press briefing and questions over her claim to be a lawyer despite not passing the California bar exam, according to reports.
According to the report, Zacharia would move to a new role, which is expected to be announced at a later date. Her departure comes less than three weeks before the US midterm elections, leaving a key position in President Donald Trump’s communications team vacant.
In a statement issued on Friday evening, Zacharia expressed gratitude to Trump and described her time working for him as an honour.
“President Trump is such a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man,” she said, adding that she wished more Americans appreciated him.
Zacharia’s departure came after Trump publicly defended her following criticism of her performance during her first week in office.
Earlier on Friday, the president said he had told Zacharia that she did not have to continue in the role if she did not want to. He also said she had been treated harshly by the media.
Asked whether he would retain her as press secretary, Trump said he would allow her to make the decision herself. He added that he would reconsider the position if he were in her place and planned to discuss her situation with her.
Despite her exit, reports citing sources familiar with the president’s thinking indicated that Trump was unlikely to appoint a replacement in the immediate future.
Zacharia was also scheduled to have dinner on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and his family at Vance’s official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, according to people familiar with the matter.
Zacharia’s tenure began with an announcement by Trump on Friday, followed by her first White House press briefing on Tuesday, just one day after she started the job.
The briefing lasted less than 15 minutes, during which she took only a handful of questions. She also faced difficulty answering a question about whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
During the briefing, Zacharia announced that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as the US ambassador to Greece. The announcement came after a reporter asked whether the president planned to remove Guilfoyle over allegations of misconduct, which she has denied. Guilfoyle announced her departure within hours.
Zacharia’s brief tenure followed that of Karoline Leavitt, who left the press secretary position at the end of August after serving since the beginning of Trump’s second term in January 2025.
Before joining the White House, Zacharia worked as a conservative media commentator and served as a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind the president’s Truth Social platform.
Her departure also drew comparisons with Anthony Scaramucci, who served as White House communications director for just 11 days during Trump’s first term. Scaramucci responded to the news on X, writing, “Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people’s pain.”
The controversy surrounding Zacharia intensified after questions emerged about her professional credentials. Although she had presented herself as a lawyer, she acknowledged this week that she had not passed the bar examination following law school.
A senior administration official confirmed on Thursday that Zacharia had not passed the California bar exam. She also discussed the matter in an interview with conservative activist Jack Posobiec.
Earlier in the week, a nonpartisan watchdog group, Campaign for Accountability, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California seeking an investigation into whether Zacharia had violated the law by describing herself as a lawyer despite not being licensed.
Questions about her credentials had surfaced on Monday when she was asked which bar examination she had taken while speaking to reporters alongside Trump on the White House South Lawn. Part of her response was difficult to hear because of noise from the Marine One helicopter.
Zacharia’s exit comes at a sensitive time for the Trump administration, with the president having expressed frustration over what he sees as shortcomings in his administration’s public relations efforts ahead of the midterm elections.