Last week, Katie Zacharia wrapped up the shortest tenure of any major appointee in either Trump Administration, departing as White House press secretary after just five days. Zacharia lasted just one briefing, which went poorly, and questions arose about whether she had misstated her legal background. Zacharia has a law degree but has never passed the bar in any state, yet she has represented herself as a lawyer in numerous media appearances.
On Friday, Trump told the press about a conversation he had with Zacharia before her department.
President Trump on what he said to White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia: “Katie, is this for you, because honestly you don’t need this…You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to…Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider…You should reconsider.” https://t.co/w6kvhzikLM
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 16, 2026
“I said, ‘Katie, is this for you? ‘” Trump told reporters. “She’s been treated very rough. She’s a nice person. I watched her for years.” He added that the media has treated her “rough.” That included Fox News, which didn’t exactly give Zacharia the kid-gloves treatment, despite her having appeared on that network in the past.
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“She was on Hannity last night,” Zacharia said. “Sean was a little tough, I saw Fox and Friends. She’s been treated, I’d say, pretty nastily. I said to Katie two minutes ago — you don’t have to do this if you don’t want it. I just want her to be happy.”
Hello! noted that Trump has had seven press secretaries over the course of his two terms, although some held briefings while holding the title of Communications Director, including the previously most short-lived staffer, Anthony Scaramucci, in 2017. Others, like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany in the first term and Karoline Leavitt in the second, have held the job for longer.
Politico, meanwhile, reported that Trump had had less nice things to say about Zacharia in private.
“Trump, according to one of the White House officials, told Zacharia directly that she really needed to reconsider the position. But the official added that the president, in an earlier meeting that Zacharia was not present for, told attendees that she had no talent and shouldn’t be on television,” the outlet reported.
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
