New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has abruptly resigned from her position after just five days on the job, a White House official confirmed to CNBC on Friday. Her remarkably brief tenure was marred by widespread criticism over her performance and mounting scrutiny regarding her legal background.
President Donald Trump himself weighed in on Friday afternoon, telling reporters that he had personally suggested Zacharia reconsider her role. “I just spoke to her about it. I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?’” Trump stated outside the White House, adding, “‘If I were you, I’d reconsider.’”
Zacharia’s five-day stint marks an exceptionally short period in a high-profile administration role, even eclipsing the infamous 11-day tenure of Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director in 2017. Scaramucci's time became a comedic benchmark, and by that measure, Zacharia lasted a mere “half-Scaramucci.” Scaramucci later remarked on X, “Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people's pain.”
Zacharia, a conservative commentator who previously worked at Trump Media & Technology Group, faced immediate backlash after her first—and only—press briefing on Tuesday. The briefing was notably short and hesitant, lasting less than six minutes, during which she fielded questions from only three reporters.
During this briefing, Zacharia also revealed that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle had been asked to step down, adding another high-profile departure to a recent series of resignations or firings of female officials within the Trump administration.
President Trump expressed sympathy for Zacharia, stating, “You know, she’s been treated very rough. And she’s a nice person.” He attributed her challenges to harsh media scrutiny, even noting that Fox News host Sean Hannity, typically a staunch supporter of the administration, was “a little bit tough” on her during her appearance on his show. Hannity had questioned Zacharia about her past claims of legal work amidst reports she never passed a bar exam, to which she defended her distinction between being a “lawyer” and an “attorney,” despite previous social media posts identifying herself as an “attorney.”
Despite initial defenses from White House communications director Steven Cheung, who on Wednesday predicted Zacharia would be remembered as “one of the all-time greats,” reports from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins suggested Trump was “embarrassed” by the coverage of Zacharia's briefing and found few allies for her among his aides.
Ultimately, Trump confirmed he would let Zacharia make her own decision about staying, leading to her swift exit from the White House press secretary role she assumed just five days prior on Columbus Day, succeeding Karoline Leavitt.
