Despite serving only five days as White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia had kind words for President Donald Trump on her departure.
Zacharia left the job shortly after a rocky Oct. 13 press briefing and subsequent criticism for misrepresenting herself as a lawyer. A few hours after exiting, she said “it was an honor” to work for the president.
“President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man,” Zacharia said in the Oct. 16 post on X. “I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to.”
Then on Saturday, Oct. 17, Zacharia posted a picture of her family in the Oval Office, surrounding the president. This week, her husband Tyler Zacharia and their four children traveled from their home in California so the family could celebrate two birthdays together, a tradition they are “very protective” of, she had said.
“Thank you, President Trump, for hosting my family and me in the Oval Office and for the generous gifts you gave my children on my son’s birthday. It was an unforgettable honor,” Zacharia said in the second such post on X.
Trump on Oct. 12 named Zacharia, 41, as the successor to Karoline Leavitt, who left her position in August. A conservative commentator – she was a regular guest on Fox News and Newsmax – Zacharia also worked as senior communications adviser for the company that runs Trump’s social media platform Truth Social.
A rocky start and short term for Zacharia
In her first White House press briefing on Oct. 13, Zacharia addressed reporters for just 14 minutes. During the 5½ minutes when she took questions, she called on reporters from Breitbart, Fox News and Daily Mail, all conservative-leaning outlets.
After the briefing, as she departed the White House with Trump, reporters asked where she passed the bar exam, and Zacharia appeared to say “when I moved to China.” Subsequently, Zacharia, a graduate of Pepperdine University’s law school, acknowledged that she failed the California bar exam and is not licensed to practice law.
On Oct. 16, Trump told reporters the job of press secretary might not be for Zacharia and said he had asked her to consider 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’s 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.'”
Job insecurity: White House press secretaries through the years
Zacharia’s stay behind the White House podium was remarkably brief: appointed one week, out the next.Historical comparisons can vary, depending on how acting and transitional service is counted, but Zacharia’s stint has drawn comparisons to former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted just 11 days – from July 21 to July 31, 2017.
Previously, Jerald terHorst served about a month in the post under President Gerald Ford in 1974 before resigning over Ford’s decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon.
Contributing: Zac Anderson, Fernando Cervantes Jr., Francesca Chambers, Joey Garrison, Bart Jansen, Melina Khan, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy and Erin Mansfield
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Katie Zacharia: ‘It was an honor’ to be Trump’s press secretary
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