Katie Zacharia has been fired as White House press secretary after less than one week on the job, The New York Times reported Friday, citing three anonymous sources. She hosted one 14-minute press briefing, took 3 questions, and will go down in history as the press secretary with the shortest tenure to date.
Fox News also reported that Zacharia would be “transitioning out” of the job, though it’s unclear what exactly that means.
Zacharia has faced intense media scrutiny and blowback this week regarding her bogus legal credentials, train-wreck first press briefing, and a disastrous appearance on Fox News’s Hannity where she tried to defend calling herself a “lawyer” but not an “attorney.”
The news of her exit comes shortly after President Donald Trump told reporters that the media was treating Zacharia “nastily” but admitted he had suggested she “reconsider” the position.
“I said, ‘Katie, you don’t have do this if you don’t wanna.’ She said, ‘This is a lot tougher.’ I said, ‘Welcome to the world of Trump.’”
“Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this,” the president said he told her.
“I said to her, honestly if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider.”
CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins reported that Trump was “embarrassed by the coverage of Zacharia’s briefing and when he polled other aides about her, Zacharia had few allies willing to stand up for her or defend her performance.”
“The main reason he rushed to select her after growing irritated with how long the process was taking to replace Karoline Leavitt was because he wanted more people defending him on TV,” Collins added. “When she failed to do so in a sufficient way with Sean Hannity, Trump said he knew she needed to go.”
Zacharia has spent much of her five days as press secretary attempting to justify calling herself a “lawyer,” despite never having passed the bar exam. She may face investigation in the state of California for purportedly calling herself a “lawyer” without a license after a bar complaint was filed Wednesday.
“Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people’s pain,” ex–Trump communications director Antony Scaramucci wrote on X following Zacharia’s termination. Scaramucci stood behind the White House briefing room podium in Trump’s first term for a then-record 11 days, from July 21 to July 31, 2017. Zacharia lasted about 0.4 percent of that time.
Before the news of her firing, reporters asked the president if Zacharia would remain in his administration. “In some form, but maybe a more pleasant form,” he said.
“I just want her to be happy,” he added.
This story has been updated.