White House reporters were stunned by the brief tenure of President Donald Trump’s press secretary Katie Zacharia after just five days on the job.
“Brutal,” one White House correspondent reacted to Fox News Digital.
Zacharia, who first took to the podium Tuesday after the August departure of her predecessor Karoline Leavitt, did not receive the warmest reception among critics who pointed to her nervous demeanor and how she only called on three reporters during her debut.
“I knew she was out two minutes into her prepared remarks on Tuesday,” a second White House reporter told Fox News Digital. “It was just too drastically different from Karoline. We were all shocked after.
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“Karoline was beautiful and hardcore MAGA … and dignified and professional and substantive. She set a new standard for press secretaries. You can’t just be hot and good on TV.”
A third White House correspondent expressed surprise Trump offered her the job in the first place, saying, “Usually, he’s spot on about who has ‘it’ and who doesn’t.
“There is no excuse for Katie’s first briefing performance,” the reporter said. “In that role, you have to be the best communicator because your job is speaking to the American people on the president’s behalf. No one expected her to have all the answers or even most of them. But I expected basic communication skills that were simply not there.”
“She probably could have been better than Karine Jean-Pierre if she had more time to prepare. But it was a brutal start,” a fourth White House reporter told Fox News Digital.
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While Zacharia’s shaky performance in the briefing room drew a lot of attention, it was her repeated claims of having been a lawyer that may have been more lethal to her future in the Trump administration.
The fourth White House reporter suggested that was a “bigger threat” than her first and only day at the podium.
A fifth White House correspondent who spoke with Fox News Digital was of two minds. On one hand, the reporter said Zacharia deserves no sympathy since she accepted the job she was “manifestly unqualified for,” noting her embellished resumé she knew would eventually be exposed.
“On the other hand, shame on the president,” the correspondent said. “He was clearly getting antsy and impulsive. He wanted his new press secretary now, and he wasn’t going to let mean old Susie Wiles tell him to wait while she convinced someone more competent and more prepared for one of the hardest jobs in government to actually take that job.”
The correspondent pointed to current staffers in the White House communications shop like Anna Kelly and Lauren Bis as individuals who can handle the job but aren’t “central casting” in Trump’s eyes.
“He took someone who seemed like a nice young woman who was defending him on TV, doing an OK job of that, and subjected her to a massive amount of humiliation and made her a national laughingstock because he didn’t want to be told no,” the reporter said of Zacharia.
“I don’t want to say he ruined her life, but she’s gonna be a punchline for a very long time. And that’s not fair.”
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As the search continues for Zacharia’s replacement, a sixth White House correspondent insisted it “doesn’t matter” who serves as press secretary during the current administration.
“Trump lies every day about everything and frequently changes his mind completely, leaving his staff looking foolish,” the reporter told Fox News Digital.
NBC News White House correspondent Garrett Haake said the drama surrounding Zacharia reflects a “bigger problem” for Trump and his staff.
“The ouster of now-former Press Sec Katie Zacharia highlights a bigger problem for the Trump White House two weeks til the midterms: They’re struggling to drive any message. Meandering rallies, staff stories taking up oxygen, long hard-to-hear gaggles, no briefings,” Haake wrote on X.
“There is nothing more cringe than a bunch of reporters cackling amongst themselves because they’ll never have the talent to take on a job as important as press secretary,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.
“It’s easy to sling arrows at others, but when they are on the receiving end, they’ll complain like it’s the end of the world. Reporters have the thinnest skin.”
Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy reported Friday that Zacharia will be “transitioning out” of the job after Trump appeared unsure about her as his press secretary when speaking with reporters.
“I just spoke to her about it. I said, ‘Katie, is this really for you?'” Trump said. “I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it.
“Maybe it’s not for her,” he later added.
Trump’s search for a new White House press secretary continues after the departure of Karoline Leavitt in August. Leavitt has since joined Fox News as a contributor.