New White House press secretary ousted after only 5 days
Photo: US President Donald Trump and White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia (instagram.com/whitehouse)
Katie Zacharia was ousted after just five days as White House press secretary. Her first press briefing did not go well, according to The New York Times.
Five days on the job as press secretary
Zacharia's ouster followed the presentation of her legal career and her first press briefing, three people familiar with the matter told the outlet.
The anonymous sources described a decision that had not yet been announced.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he had urged Zacharia to "reconsider" the job.
"Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider," he told reporters, recounting his conversation with his press secretary.
He said he added, "Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this."
Trump said Zacharia could continue working for him "in some form, but maybe a more pleasant form."
Zacharia's career
Katie Zacharia got off to a poor start at what turned out to be her first and last press briefing on Tuesday. She mostly read from a script and ended the briefing after just three questions, the outlet noted.
A wave of headlines followed, questioning whether she had misrepresented herself as a lawyer — Trump had called her an "attorney" — despite the fact that she had not passed the bar exam.
RBC-Ukraine previously reported that White House press secretary Katie Zacharia was unable to give a clear answer when asked whether the US had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
Trump also announced that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would leave her post at the end of August. The decision was related to the birth of her child, but she was not leaving the president's team.
