President Donald Trump disclosed details of a private conversation with now-former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia during a raucous rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday. He also urged the crowd to admire the physique of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump traveled to Fort Myers to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Representative Byron Donalds and Senator Ashley Moody, who is running in a special election to complete Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term.
Recent polls have placed Donalds and Moody ahead of their Democratic opponents, although the margins are narrow in a state that has shifted firmly toward the MAGA movement in recent elections.
The president offered additional insight into Zacharia’s abrupt exit—just one week earlier, after only five days in the position—as he complained that reporters had been “screaming” questions at him when he left the White House.
“They want to know so many different things. What about this? What about this?” Trump told the rally crowd.
“No wonder that poor young woman—she was a perfect, beautiful woman—when she walked into that press room and they started screaming at her, she freaked out,” the president said.
Zacharia held just one press briefing during her brief tenure. The session lasted 14 minutes, meaning her time in the role was shorter than even the tenure of Anthony Scaramucci.
Trump said he had advised her: “You know what, there are nicer ways for you to make a living. You want to deal with these maniacs? You can deal if you want, but there are easier ways for you to live.” Zacharia was removed from the post soon afterward.
President Donald Trump discussed press secretary Katie Zacharia’s departure during a rally Friday afternoon in Fort Myers, Florida, where he also commented on the physique of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
President Donald Trump said former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia “freaked out” after facing reporters in the briefing room for 14 minutes, one day into her five-day tenure.
Reporters also questioned Trump on the South Lawn Friday morning about his defense of an advertisement produced for Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad featured the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton, who remained with Acton’s stepfather after a grand jury found that he had sexually assaulted Acton as a child.
Trump and Ramaswamy have both continued to defend the advertisement.
Later in his roughly 90-minute speech, Trump turned his attention to Kennedy, his Health and Human Services secretary, and invited him to join him onstage.
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“By the way, seriously, did anybody ever see the build, the body on Bobby?” Trump asked the audience. “He’s got the body of a 30-year-old.”
Kennedy’s exercise routines—often shown with him wearing jeans—and his diet of meat and fermented vegetables have attracted headlines since he followed his late Democratic father into politics.
Trump also highlighted Kennedy’s ties to the prominent political family.
“Think of it, think of it, he’s a Republican and he’s the most important Kennedy in the Kennedy family by far,” Trump said. “Is that good? See, now with that statement, I just caused him a little more problem, but we can handle problems, right?”
Although Trump devoted substantial portions of the rally to renovation projects—including plans to update a White House door—and said he did not “give a s***” about being sued over the work, he also addressed the Florida elections.
President Donald Trump, left, stands with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right, at a Florida rally on Friday, where Trump told the crowd that Kennedy had the body of a “30-year-old.”
Moody is facing Florida state Representative Angie Nixon, a Democratic socialist who defeated Alexander Vindman—a witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial—in the Democratic primary.
Trump took a brief swat at Vindman saying, ‘I could not stand the guy she beat,’ and adding that he was a ‘bad guy.’
He called Nixon a ‘Marxist maniac’ and jokingly asked the audience if there’s ‘any relationship to the late, great Richard Nixon?’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Trump added. ‘No, the press will say, “Can you believe he said that?” … that’s why you can’t be cute.’
Trump then turned his attention to Donalds’ rival, former Republican Representative David Jolly, who’s running as a Democrat for Florida governor to replace the term-limited GOP Governor Ron DeSantis.
‘He was thrown out of the party like a dog,’ Trump exclaimed.
