Former press secretary Katie Zacharia said she was left “perplexed” after Sean Hannity challenged her credentials during what she described as a hostile interview.
Zacharia, 42, appeared on Hannity’s Fox News program on October 15, shortly after a disastrous first press briefing. She stumbled through her answers, took only three questions and ended the session after 15 minutes, despite the briefings typically lasting about an hour.
She had seemingly expected a friendlier exchange after Hannity defended the embattled press secretary on his show.
“Zacharia’s being mocked,” he said just two days before her appearance. “She’s been attacked over her appearance, her hair, the way she spoke. They questioned her intelligence, her credentials. They even asked about her bar exam.”
However, when Zacharia joined him on air, Hannity pressed her on those same credentials, including her description of herself as a lawyer despite never passing the bar exam.
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty later suggested that someone at the White House may have authorized Hannity to question Zacharia aggressively. Both Fox News and Hannity have denied that claim.
“Katie, I was shocked by the Hannity treatment, if I’m being honest,” Finnerty told Zacharia during her first interview since leaving the White House.
“I don’t think he does that if he doesn’t get the green light from somebody, perhaps at the White House,” he continued. “I don’t know—what do you make of this narrative that Fox did this on purpose?”
Zacharia also revealed that Hannity’s team had offered her a position as a California correspondent earlier in the year.
Ousted former press secretary Katie Zacharia told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty she was “perplexed” after Sean Hannity pressed her about her credentials earlier this month.
Zacharia appeared on Hannity’s Fox News show on October 15, following a disastrous first press briefing in which she stumbled over her words, took only three questions and ended the usually hour-long session after 15 minutes.
“I’m just as perplexed about what happened, specifically with Sean Hannity,” she replied.
Finnerty then asked whether Hannity’s team had raised questions about her credentials when it offered her the job.
“I doubt that he had any interest in your educational background at that point, when you had that call,” he said. “Is that accurate? Is that fair?”
“We never had a conversation about my educational background,” Zacharia confirmed.
Finnerty then asked whether she would ever return to Hannity’s show.
“Look, I never shy away from a fight or back away from a fight,” she replied.
“I’ve been on CNN. I’ve debated some of the most hostile—not anchors, but guests—and I’ve been able to do it with grace, dignity and decorum,” Zacharia continued. She added that she would have been better prepared if she had scheduled an interview with someone such as CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“But because I had a very friendly rapport with Sean, and he had even made very supportive statements about me on Tuesday, October 13, really coming to my defense, I was not prepared for the hostility that I received.”
In the interview with Hannity, Zacharia tried to defend calling herself a ‘lawyer’ as the Fox News host questioned her about her credentials.
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Zacharia tried to defend her performance at her press briefing in her interview with Hannity
Zacharia said she remains ‘ruthlessly loyal’ to President Donald Trump
She then admitted that she failed the bar exam on her first try, and confirmed she never took the exam a second time.
‘For background, I graduated Pepperdine, got married in the same week, we had all intent to move out to China,’ Zacharia explained to Hannity, giving the backstory on why she failed.
‘I had already pre-registered for the bar exam, basically during the summer I had learned I was moving to China so the results would be inconsequential.’
Hannity also challenged Zacharia’s short briefing, asking: ‘Why only three questions in 14 minutes?’ before warning her that the White House briefing room would ‘never be a friendly room to you.’
She then tried to explain that it had been a whirlwind week for her, having only interviewed for the job one week before she was asked to give her first briefing.
‘I had been on the job for one day and instead of taking questions, probably should’ve stepped aside,’ she told Hannity, while adding she feels ‘I did my very best to deliver for the American people.’
She said the right thing to do might have been to just give ‘a brief intro’ to the press corps and noted she had only been on the job ‘for eight hours.’
But just one day after giving the interview, Zacharia was brutally ousted from her position at the White House, making her the shortest-serving press secretary in White House history.
She lasted just five days on the job before a series of gaffes and nervous performances led Trump to fire her
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Still, Zacharia said she remains ‘ruthlessly loyal’ to President Donald Trump.
‘It was an honor to work for President Trump, and no one has been more relentlessly attacked by the media than him,’ she previously told Newsweek.
Zacharia then vowed that ‘the best is yet to come,’ and said her week in the Trump administration included working ‘around the clock’ ahead of the midterm elections.
‘As Rudyard Kipling wrote, “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch.” After a week with him on the midterm blitz, I saw that in action,’ Zacharia said.
‘Working around the clock with world leaders – bringing hostages home and brokering peace – while speaking to crowds of Americans to win the midterms and deliver for the people.
‘No one has carried the water for the Republican Party and America First like he has for over a decade, all without losing the common touch.’
Our News Outlet has reached out to Fox News for comment.
