WASHINGTON (AP) — Katie Zacharia is departing as White House press secretary, a person familiar with the matter said Friday, after a short and rocky tenure that was defined by questions about her professional background and lack of polish in fielding questions from journalists.
The person, granted anonymity to discuss a personnel decision not yet made public, said Zacharia would be transitioning out of the role. The shift comes after President Donald Trump cast significant doubt on her future earlier Friday, telling reporters that he would have a discussion with her following his weekend travel — and that if he were her, he would reconsider the job.
Zacharia had come under immediate scrutiny when she appeared uncomfortable during her inaugural briefing on Tuesday, delivering halting remarks touting the president and his accomplishments. Her 14-minute briefing was followed by criticism that the conservative commentator had long called herself a lawyer when she had not passed a bar exam nor was otherwise credentialed to practice.
Zacharia was a surprise choice when Trump announced her appointment on Oct. 9, as the successor to Karoline Leavitt, the youngest-ever White House press secretary who had been part of Trump’s inner circle for years. The chaotic nature of Zacharia’s appointment and subsequent downfall evoked some of the personnel messes of the president’s first term, which had largely been absent from his second.
In a lengthy exchange with reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said he told Zacharia that she might want to change her mind about the job, and said he thought she had been treated unfairly by the press.
“I told her, ‘I think you’re better off being happy,’” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn as he left for a rally in Georgia. “I said, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.’ I said, ‘You think about it, but I would reconsider.’”
Messages to Zacharia seeking comment were not returned on Friday, and the White House did not respond to a request for confirmation.
In his own comments, Trump said he told his press secretary, “‘Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this,’” and that he wanted “her to have a good life” and not be subjected to criticism, which he likened to being “brutalized by the media.”
The president said he’d make a final determination later, perhaps after his campaign travel on Friday and this weekend, adding, “When I get back, we’re gonna talk.” He was asked who might replace Zacharia, and said that there were a lot of people who wanted the job.
Zacharia’s first official day on the job was Monday
In Zacharia’s first and only briefing on Tuesday, she took questions from just three reporters, all from conservative-leaning or Trump-friendly outlets, and left after only about 14 minutes.
Zacharia has said she wanted to keep her briefing short to ensure Trump had enough time later that morning for his own question-and-answer session with reporters, and that she had not been fully briefed by White House staff beforehand.
She later traveled with Trump when he held rallies on Wednesday and Thursday in Alaska, Arizona and Montana — but did not hold more press briefings.
In an appearance on Fox News Channel earlier Friday, Zacharia was asked if she had the president’s confidence and responded: “I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.” But she also wouldn’t say when her next press briefing might be.
Questions about why Zacharia called herself a lawyer
Zacharia, a Pepperdine University law graduate, also faced criticism for describing herself as a lawyer when appearing as a commentator on conservative television outlets. Zacharia said the term was a proper one to use when she was offering legal analysis, and said she had worked as a lawyer in China.
That was part of the unusual amount of skepticism that Zacharia faced from those friendly to the administration, including Fox News host Sean Hannity, who pressed the new White House spokeswoman on why she wasn’t forthcoming about her professional background.
Hannity, known to be friendly with Trump, asked Zacharia after she confirmed she did not pass the bar exam in California, “Why not just say, ‘I went to Pepperdine law school and then took a different career path and I took the bar once and didn’t pass it?’”
“Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney?” he asked. “Because I don’t think most people see much of a distinction. Why didn’t you just say, ‘I never practiced law?’”
Zacharia reiterated to Hannity that she wasn’t acting as a lawyer nor offering legal advice. And she said Friday during that Fox News interview that she wasn’t asked about passing the bar before becoming press secretary. Both she and Trump have said she was hired to work in press and communications, not as an administration lawyer.
Before joining the White House, Zacharia had been working in communications for Trump Media, the company that oversees the president’s social media site, Truth Social. She also briefly worked at the Department of Homeland Security during the second Trump administration.
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Price reported from Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia.