Katie Zacharia Is Out as White House Press Secretary After Five Days

Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after five days in the job. Five sources familiar with the decision, including three senior White House officials, told USA TODAY that Zacharia is "transitioning out" of the role. Her exit came hours after President Donald Trump told reporters on Oct. 16 that the job might not be for her and that he had asked her to think about stepping down.

"I said to Katie, 'You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to,'" Trump said on Oct. 16, adding that she had been treated "very rough" and "nastily" by the media. "I said, 'Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I'd reconsider.'" He added: "Look, she has suffered over the last few days. Maybe it's not for her. You want to be happy in life."

A first briefing that lasted 14 minutes

Zacharia, 41, was hired last week to replace Karoline Leavitt. She had worked as a senior communications adviser for the company that runs Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, and she was a regular guest on Fox News and Newsmax.

Her first press briefing, on Oct. 13, lasted 14 minutes. She read from prepared remarks and took questions from just three reporters, each from conservative outlets. The performance drew wide criticism. Zacharia later said she had made repeated trips between California and Washington after being offered the job and had received the White House briefing materials only shortly before she faced reporters on the morning of Oct. 13.

The White House first stood by her. On Oct. 14, communications director Steven Cheung said that by the end of Trump's second term she would be remembered as one of the all time greats in the job.

The bar exam question

Questions about her legal record followed her all week. Zacharia had long described herself in public as a lawyer. She told USA TODAY in an interview on Oct. 15 that she failed the California bar exam in 2011 and never held a law license in the United States. She graduated from Pepperdine University law school in 2011, married the same week, then took the exam before moving to China, where she worked for a Chinese law firm's international practice team on shareholder agreements, work that did not require a US license. She did not take the exam a second time.

Legal experts said calling herself a lawyer without a license was inappropriate and unethical, and a watchdog group filed a complaint against her with the State Bar of California. On Oct. 15, Fox News host Sean Hannity pressed her on the briefing and on the lawyer claim in an interview that drew wide attention.

Hours after she was let go, Zacharia posted on social media that it was an honor to work for Trump, calling him a kind, gracious and hardworking man. Her five days in the job were less than half the 11 days Anthony Scaramucci spent as White House communications director in Trump's first term before he was fired. Scaramucci wrote on X: "Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people's pain." The White House has not named a successor, less than three weeks before the midterm elections.