New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia sought to explain her shaky debut briefing, saying she woke up at “3 in the morning” to prepare and was not given “ample” time to get ready.
Zacharia, 42, told “Real America’s Voice” host Jack Posobiec on Thursday that the week before Tuesday’s White House press briefing had been chaotic. She appeared visibly nervous during the 14-minute session and answered just three questions from reporters.
“Typically, Jack, briefs are in the afternoon, 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., where the press secretary has an ample amount of time to have discussed with all the necessary people, get all the right information, be briefed and walk out, and this was a very different incoming, intake,” she said.
“Monday, Columbus Day, is when I got the briefing materials, and then Tuesday morning they were completed. And I woke up at 3 in the morning on Tuesday to prepare what I had, but they weren’t finalized until – we didn’t finalize everything until about 8 a.m.,” she added.
“And I never had a full briefing beforehand and I went out and I effectuated the briefing.”
Zacharia, who was selected to replace former press secretary Karoline Leavitt, said she was taking her 5-year-old son to a pumpkin patch on Wednesday when President Trump called her.
She said she flew to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, met with Trump on Friday and accepted the job that day. Zacharia then returned to California on Saturday to pack her suitcases, traveled back to Washington on Sunday and began working on Monday.
Zacharia also addressed criticism over the unusually brief press conference, saying its limited length was intentional because Trump was scheduled to leave Washington that morning.
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“Knowing that White House protocol is pretty specific, it was absolutely my goal to keep it short considering he is his own best spokesperson and he would love and does love gaggling with the media as he goes to Marine One, so I wanted to give ample deference and not barge into his time,” she said.
“My original understanding is that my briefing would be at 9:30, end by 10 at least or earlier and that there would be then a quick movement out and we would be going on Marine One at 10.”
Trump personally prepared his new spokeswoman in the Oval Office, causing her to run slightly late, and asked her to outline his accomplishments during the briefing and announce his decision to seek the resignation of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, a source told The Post.
Zacharia was thrust into the spotlight on only her second day in the role, and her visible nervousness quickly became a subject of discussion in Washington.
She began with eight minutes of prepared remarks, leaving roughly six minutes for questions, and relied heavily on her notes. At one point, she mistakenly referred to her husband as the president.
The new White House press secretary is also facing questions over reports that she identified herself as a lawyer despite never passing a bar examination.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Zacharia failed the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2011.
During her Thursday interview, she confirmed the reports, explaining that she had planned to move to China to live with her future husband and “didn’t want to withdraw” from the exam.
In a phone interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Zacharia said she had asked Pepperdine’s president how she should describe herself after graduation. She said he advised her not to use “attorney” or “esquire,” but told her that “lawyer” was acceptable.
