Katie Zacharia was in the middle of an interview with The Wall Street Journal about her plans as the new White House press secretary when Jason Miller knocked on her office door.
Miller, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, asked her to step aside for a quick chat with Vice President JD Vance. Moments later, Zacharia was fired.
Her swift dismissal came just five days after she took over the role.
Zacharia arrived at work on Friday expecting a regular day in her new post. She attended a meeting with the communications team in the Roosevelt Room, as per The Wall Street Journal.
Around 1 pm, she was seated in her West Wing office, giving an interview to the WSJ, when Miller knocked on her door.
“JD wanted to chat with us real quick,” Miller said.
As Zacharia walked from her room to meet Vance, Trump was at his new helipad, where he recalled speaking with her earlier that day.
“I said, ‘Is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don't need this,'” Trump told reporters. The president said he told Zacharia he would "reconsider" the job if he was in her position.
Zacharia did not return either to the job or the interview.
In the evening, she told the WSJ by phone that she did everything in her power “to effectuate a briefing in the limited time and information I had.”
“My goal was to serve President Trump and the American people to the best of my ability,” the former press secretary said, reflecting on her short tenure.
Zacharia did not get off to the best start. Her first press briefing performance was lacklustre. Not only that, questions were raised about Zacharia's background and qualifications.
She had long described herself as a lawyer. But Zacharia failed to clarify whether she passed the bar exam in any US state or in China, where she worked for a large law firm years ago.
The WSJ later reported that Zacharia had never passed the bar exam.
Her attempts to defend herself with back-to-back Fox News appearances did not go well.
The White House has dismissed speculation about Katie Zacharia's firing and said she would continue to serve the Trump administration in a new role that has not yet been announced.