Katie Zacharia leaves White House press secretary role

Katie Zacharia is leaving her job as White House press secretary, the White House told NPR on Friday. She officially started Monday. Her departure follows scrutiny of her first briefing and questions about her legal credentials.

A White House official told NPR that Zacharia was “transitioning out” of the role. Al Jazeera also confirmed her departure. Earlier Friday, President Donald Trump urged Zacharia to reconsider staying in the job, saying the media had treated her badly.

“I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider,’” Trump told reporters outside the White House, according to The Guardian. He said he would leave the decision to Zacharia and wanted her “to be happy.” NPR reported that Trump spoke just before leaving for a campaign rally in Georgia.

Zacharia held her first briefing Tuesday. According to NPR, she read a lengthy, halting opening statement from notes and called on only three reporters. The Guardian reported that the briefing lasted 14 minutes and that the Daily Mail was among the three outlets from which she took questions.

On Thursday, Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Zacharia, “What happened?” She said she had had little time to prepare between accepting the job and facing reporters. The next morning, Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones told her it had been “a tough week” and added, “You never want to be the story.” Asked during a Fox News appearance whether she still had Trump’s confidence, Zacharia replied, “I’m standing here.” Trump said Hannity and the Fox & Friends hosts had been “a little tough” on her.

Her legal background also drew scrutiny. Trump described Zacharia as an “attorney” when announcing her appointment, and she had shared social media posts that used the term. Zacharia, a graduate of Pepperdine University’s law school, confirmed in a Thursday Fox News interview that she had not passed the bar exam. The Guardian reported that she defended social media posts during her Hannity interview by saying “they were retweets.” It also reported that she said she called herself a “lawyer,” not an “attorney,” to distinguish between the terms.

“I don’t think most people see much of a distinction,” Hannity told her.

NPR reported that when reporters asked Zacharia where she had passed the bar exam, she answered, “When I moved to China.” NPR said her LinkedIn page described work from 2011 to 2013 at a Beijing-based law firm. Asked by NPR whether she was licensed to practice in the United States, Zacharia said in a statement that she had “practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.”

Zacharia succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who left the role in August, according to The Guardian. NPR reported that Zacharia had served as a communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group. The Guardian reported that she also had a brief stint as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. Al Jazeera reported that Fox News said Friday there was no rush to name a replacement.