Updated
Katie Zacharia’s short stint as White House press secretary ended Friday, less than a week after she took the job, following a rocky first briefing and growing questions about her legal credentials.
A White House official confirmed she was leaving the role, while other reports described her departure as a firing.
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President Donald Trump told reporters he felt Zacharia had been treated unfairly by the media.
He said he’d spoken with her about whether the job was worth the pressure, adding that he wanted her to be happy and didn’t want her to face the kind of scrutiny she’d experienced during her first days in office.
"I want her to have a good life. I don't want her to have a life like she's led the last three days," Trump said.
Zacharia was a surprise choice to replace Karoline Leavitt, whose departure had created an opening in the administration’s communications team. Trump announced Zacharia’s appointment on October 9.
She had previously worked in communications for Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social, and briefly served at the Department of Homeland Security.
Her first White House briefing, held Tuesday, lasted around 14 minutes. She took questions from just three reporters, and her hesitant delivery prompted criticism from commentators and journalists.
The selection of reporters also drew attention because all three represented conservative-leaning or Trump-friendly outlets.
Zacharia defended the short appearance in interviews with conservative media, saying she’d wanted to leave time for Trump to speak with reporters later that morning.
She said she received briefing materials on Monday evening and that they weren’t finished until 8 a.m. Tuesday, less than two hours before she faced the press corps.
She’d been awake since 3 a.m. preparing and admitted she might have been better off giving a brief introduction instead of taking questions.
Failed bar exam fuels questions about her credentials
The scrutiny intensified after Zacharia confirmed she’d failed California’s bar exam following her 2011 graduation from Pepperdine University’s law school.
She said she was preparing to marry and move to China with her husband, who worked in private equity, and didn’t retake the test because she expected to work abroad. She described the result as “somewhat inconsequential” given those plans.
Zacharia’s use of the title “lawyer” had drawn questions because she wasn’t licensed to practice law in a US state.
She said she’d consulted legal professionals who told her she could use the term while offering legal analysis, but she stressed that she hadn’t presented herself as an attorney-at-law.
She also said she wouldn’t weigh in on legal matters in her White House role. Reuters reported that she confirmed failing the exam during a Fox News interview.
Zacharia said she hadn’t lobbied directly for the press secretary position. Instead, she monitored Trump’s social media posts and discussed topics that appeared to interest him, hoping her television appearances would put her on his radar.
Her abrupt departure now leaves the White House needing another spokesperson. Trump defended her publicly, but the combination of a brief, heavily criticized debut and questions about her qualifications quickly overshadowed her appointment.