Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia was seen in Los Angeles after her turbulent five-day run in the administration came to an abrupt end.
The 41-year-old was asked to resign Friday after a difficult first press briefing and reports that she had never passed the bar exam, despite previously identifying herself as an attorney.
On Monday, the mother of four was photographed out in Los Angeles, California, wearing a blue-and-red workout outfit that highlighted her toned midriff and closely resembled the costumes associated with Superwoman and Superman.
The appearance marked her first public sighting since she was abruptly removed from the post on Friday.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that Zacharia had been speaking with a Wall Street Journal reporter when a colleague suddenly pulled her aside.
She reportedly excused herself, telling the journalist she would be gone for only a few minutes. She never came back.
Shortly afterward, her new boss, President Trump, spoke to reporters at his new helipad and said he had asked Zacharia to reconsider taking the position.
“I said, ‘Is this for you Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,’” Trump told reporters.
Asked whether he still had confidence in her, the president replied: “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m gonna let her make that decision.”
Katie Zacharia was seen Monday in Los Angeles, California, wearing blue-and-red exercise clothing that showed off her toned abs
The sighting came for the first time since she was dramatically dismissed from the role on Friday
Katie Zacharia was photographed in workout gear in Los Angeles on Tuesday, marking her first public appearance since leaving the White House press secretary position after only five days
Trump’s remarks effectively sealed the fate of what is now the shortest tenure by a White House press secretary in U.S. history.
Her time in the role was even briefer than Anthony Scaramucci’s notorious 11-day spell as White House communications director in 2017, during Trump’s first term.
Earlier this year, Zacharia had lasted just six weeks as a communications adviser at the Department of Homeland Security.
Her week-long stretch in the spotlight was swift and punishing. Zacharia’s first—and only—briefing lasted 14 minutes and drew widespread ridicule online.
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Even typically pro-Trump Fox News hosts questioned her showing, sharply contrasting it with the tenure of her predecessor, Karoline Leavitt, who resigned in August after 18 months widely viewed as successful.
Zacharia struggled with her prepared remarks, stumbled through sentences and, at one point, mistakenly referred to the president as her husband.
Her appointment as press secretary had surprised many observers. Her background included six weeks at Homeland Security, appearances on conservative media, a position at Trump Media and a legal career that soon faced scrutiny.
When questioned earlier in the week about whether she had passed the bar, Zacharia said she took the exam in China, where she worked after graduating from Pepperdine University Law School.
That baffled reporters since the test isn’t offered there, and US citizens typically cannot take Chinese legal exams.
She later cleared up that she never passed the bar exam since it wasn’t necessary for her job in China, where the US qualification would not have carried water.
Zacharia is seen here during her first and only press briefing last week
Her rocky first and only briefing, which lasted just 14 minutes, was widely mocked online, and even Fox News hosts questioned her performance
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt she stepped down from the role in late August
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.
In an interview on Friday morning with Fox News about her ‘tough week,’ Zacharia was pressed unusually hard by the hosts once again about why she’s described herself as an attorney in the past.
‘It’s not an easy job to be the press secretary, and you never want to be the story,’ Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones said. ‘But I have to ask, do you wish you would have disclosed to the president about the bar and not passing the bar?’
‘Well, Lawrence, those questions weren’t asked,’ Zacharia shot back.
‘I’m being hired as White House press secretary and not White House counsel. The conversations and the reason I was hired was to represent the President in the press.’
The President made the decision to hire Zacharia during a 72-hour period last week without consulting his chief of staff Susie Wiles, Our News Outlet previously reported.
