During a recent appearance on BBC Newsnight, Katie Zacharia seemed determined to answer every question except the ones Victoria Derbyshire was actually asking.
The former White House press secretary repeatedly interrupted the British journalist, challenged her questions and launched into lengthy defenses of Donald Trump and his administration. At one point, Derbyshire appeared to struggle to keep a straight face.
The November 10 interview covered three major issues facing the Trump administration: the controversy surrounding Alaska’s Senate ballot, apparent differences between Trump and JD Vance over the Iran war, and the impeachment effort against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Derbyshire opened with a question about Vance’s comments and the Alaska controversy involving two candidates named Dan Sullivan.
“Why didn’t JD Vance mention the Sullivans? And Alaska? He clearly pointed—” the presenter began.
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“Is that fair?” Zacharia cut in.
“You don’t want to answer the question because you know it’s not fair,” she told Derbyshire.
She then accused those involved in the Alaska controversy of orchestrating a setup.
“You know that that was a setup. It was so clearly a setup, and that is why it’s being investigated right now. And that should be across the pond, being questioned just as much as anywhere else in the world.”
Zacharia continued defending her position, saying: “This is not just some random obscurity. This is two Dan Sullivans who were on the ballot in Alaska.”
When Derbyshire tried to ask why the issue mattered, Zacharia pressed her to explain who had put the second candidate on the ballot.
“This is something that needs to be looked at. Who put Dan Sullivan on that ballot? Who did that?”
She also challenged Derbyshire over a New York Times report, asking: “The New York Times had an answer. Did you read that? Did you read what The New York Times came out with? Yes or no?”
Derbyshire appeared to suppress a laugh while Zacharia continued making her case.
Victoria Derbyshire tries not to laugh
As Katie Zacharia – the lady who survived just four days as the White House Press Secretary – has a meltdown on Newsnight, repeatedly talking over VD https://t.co/62xj4EJ2Pf
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) November 10, 2026
The presenter eventually moved on to the growing questions about Trump’s relationship with Vance. The vice president had publicly expressed differences over the Iran war, prompting questions about whether the two men were still on the same page.
“How do you think the president will be coping with this open criticism of the war by his vice president?” Derbyshire asked.
“The president has been very clear: there is not any kind of ‘at odds’ right now,” Zacharia replied.
“He made that statement very clear both in his interview and across the board. Any kind of insinuation that there’s this massive division happening is not actually understanding the relationship between the president and the vice president.”
Derbyshire’s final subject was Hegseth, who was facing an impeachment effort led by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie.
“Should Pete Hegseth now resign so that his boss doesn’t have to keep defending him?” she asked.
“Pete Hegseth should absolutely not resign. He’s been a wonderful Secretary of War, and he absolutely did what any other Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense would do in these circumstances,” Zacharia responded.
She predicted that “history will prove that not only President Trump but also Secretary Hegseth will be thanked for ensuring the UK and the rest of the world will not have to deal with nuclearized Iran.”
Derbyshire ended the interview with a brief “Thank you very much, Katie, bye-bye.”
“Last week he said the Democrats did pretty well, he said he was going to work with them. Several days later he’s suggesting there’s something wrong with the elections. What’s changed?”
@vicderbyshire asks former White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia about President’s Trump’s response to the midterm results.
#Newsnight
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 11, 2026
Zacharia’s latest television appearance follows a difficult start to her media career in the Trump administration. Her tenure as White House press secretary lasted just five days. She later faced questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity about her legal credentials, and subsequently told Newsmax: “I was not prepared for the hostility that I received.”
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
