Donald Trump’s former press secretary Katie Zacharia has spoken out after being abruptly removed from the role just five days after taking it.
In an Instagram post, Zacharia described Trump as “a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and the most hardworking man.”
“I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to. It was an honor to work for him,” she wrote.
A senior White House official told Our News Outlet on Friday that Zacharia was “transitioning out” of the position.
Trump had earlier told reporters at the White House that he asked Zacharia to consider stepping down.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Trump said he told her. “Honestly, if I were you I’d reconsider.”
“Maybe it’s not for her,” Trump added. Asked whether he planned to fire her, he replied: “No, I want her to have a good life.”
Zacharia’s time in the White House is even shorter than Anthony Scaramucci’s notorious 11-day stint as communications director in 2017.
On Friday, 41-year-old Zacharia was summoned to meet the president. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Trump told her. “Honestly, if I were you I’d reconsider.”
A senior White House official told Our News Outlet that Zacharia was “transitioning out” of the position on Friday
The brief White House appointment followed an even shorter spell as a communications adviser at Homeland Security, where she worked for six weeks earlier this year.
A source close to Zacharia told Our News Outlet that she had effectively been placed in a position where failure was almost inevitable.
“Katie is a beautiful person who was brought into an incredibly tough situation with sharp knives from every direction. She was attacked by the left, the right, the media, and it seems like from nearly every room at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” the source said.
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The insider also criticized Zacharia’s colleagues, accusing them of leaking harsh assessments of her to the press.
“Instead of focusing on how to help her succeed, colleagues spent their time texting negative tear downs to the media.”
The source said Trump needed “a team that works together for the good of the administration and the party” ahead of the midterm elections, arguing that Zacharia’s experience demonstrated the opposite.
“What we’ve unfortunately witnessed is a window into the macro political GOP system – where purity tests and greed have destroyed a near perfect launch pad for decades of success, from within,” they said.
“She had to learn this the hard way, but contrary to what international news has led people to believe all week – she’s smart, driven, kind and will be fine, and probably better off.”
Zacharia had held the press secretary post for fewer than five days. Her tenure was turbulent from the outset, with her 14-minute debut briefing drawing criticism over her visibly nervous presentation.
The Tuesday briefing included questions from just three reporters and lasted 14 minutes. By comparison, Leavitt’s briefings typically ran for about 45 minutes.
When reporters asked that day where she had passed the bar, Zacharia said she had passed it when she moved to China.
She later told the New York Times she hadn’t heard the question over the noise of Marine One.
In a tense interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night, she acknowledged that she failed the California bar exam in 2011, never retook it and considered the results inconsequential.
As the segment ended, she promised Hannity she would be very prepared going forward and would step up to the duty the President had given her.
Zacharia plans to have dinner with Vice President JD Vance and his family on Friday evening, according to another person with knowledge of the meal who was granted anonymity to disclose it.
This is a breaking news story.
