The White House has a new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, and she must do better. There’s no sugarcoating it, folks. She struggled mightily. Like Anthony Volpe trying to replace Derek Jeter on the New York Yankees, an impossible task, Zacharia filling Karoline Leavitt’s shoes is a Herculean task. She knows that, I’m sure, so this first at-bat in front of the White House press corps was a flop. She’ll get better. She has to. Zacharia reportedly received the briefing materials that morning, with some noting that maybe she should have been eased into the position instead of this baptism by fire (via WSJ) [emphasis mine]:
She read directly from a list of President Trump’s accomplishments, her voice at times halting. The spokeswoman took just three questions before directing the press to speak with the president directly. She accidentally referred to her husband as “my president.” In all, her first press briefing lasted less than 15 minutes.
It was a rough debut for Zacharia, selected by Trump last week to replace Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August.
The briefing received wall-to-wall coverage. One former senior administration official described the inaugural showing as a solid effort. Other administration officials, watching from their desks, picked up on nervousness in her voice, wondering why Trump had pushed the new press secretary in front of the cameras so quickly instead of easing her into the job.
Kayleigh McEnany, a Fox News host who served as White House press secretary in Trump’s first administration, noted that Zacharia had “very little runway” before meeting the press. The new press secretary, juggling a family move to Washington, had less than 24 hours to prepare, and received her briefing materials that morning, a senior administration official said.
Let’s see how she does, but what was worse was the flock of unnamed Trump officials texting CNN’s Kaitlin Collins about the presser. Who the hell is doing that? Does the White House need to launch a mole hunt?
Kaitlin says she immediately started getting texts from WH officials about Zacharia’s performance. If she’s not lying, finding the “officials” gossiping with Kaitlin should be top WH priority.
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) October 14, 2026
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Striking photo released by the White House of @KatieZacharia entering her first pree conference as Press Secretary. Look at all the reporters facial expressions https://t.co/cI0iYGevsb
— Luke Brenner (@TheLukeReport) October 13, 2026
We’re facing a brutal midterm election. The margins are razor-thin; a one-point shift in current polling could determine who controls Congress. We don’t need this drama. The new press secretary will sharpen her craft. I think she knows it. Everyone else needs to focus on their jobs and get ready for the elections, not texting CNN or Collins about palace intrigue right now.
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