Washington, October 2026 : Katie Zacharia has left her position as White House press secretary after just five days on the job, US media reported on Friday, citing administration officials. Her departure is believed to mark the shortest tenure in the history of the position.
CNN, citing advisers to US President Donald Trump, reported that the President had fired Zacharia. However, NBC News quoted a senior administration official as saying she was “transitioning into a new role”, with details expected to be announced later. No successor has been named.
The development came hours after Trump spoke to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before departing for an engagement. He said he had asked Zacharia whether she wanted to continue in the demanding position.
“Katie’s been treated very badly by the media, very, very badly, very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it,” Trump said.
He added that he had told her she did not have to remain in the job if she did not want to. According to Trump, Zacharia acknowledged that the role was challenging. “I said, ‘Welcome to the world of Trump.’ I’m going to let her make that decision,” he said.
Zacharia, a conservative commentator and former senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, assumed the position on October 12 and conducted her first press briefing the following day. Trump had selected her on October 8 to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the post at the end of August.
Her first briefing lasted less than 15 minutes. During the session, she announced that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as US ambassador to Greece. However, she was unable to confirm whether Washington had halted intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.
Zacharia also faced questions over her legal qualifications during the week. Although Trump had described her as an attorney, a senior administration official confirmed on Thursday that she had not passed the California bar examination, NBC News reported.
Citing two people familiar with Trump's thinking, NBC News reported that the President was unlikely to appoint a new press secretary immediately. Her departure comes less than three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
Zacharia's tenure was shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci, who served 11 days as White House communications director during Trump's first term. Reacting to the news on X, Scaramucci wrote, “Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people's pain.”
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
