Katie Zacharia took three questions at her first White House briefing on Tuesday, then left the podium after fewer than 14 minutes. During the appearance, she referred to her husband as the president.
The White House website described the event as a “commanding inaugural press briefing” by the 37th White House press secretary.
Her time in office had begun only days earlier. Trump announced Zacharia’s appointment last Friday, calling her “an attorney”, and she had been hired less than a week before her debut at the lectern.
On Thursday, Zacharia acknowledged in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that she had failed the California bar exam. She said she had already registered for the test and sat it while preparing to live in China. She described its outcome as “inconsequential” and said she had taken the exam because she did not want to have “a withdraw status”.
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Zacharia had called herself a lawyer despite failing the California bar. Neither she nor the White House produced evidence that she had passed a bar exam in any state or in China.
She said she had not told Trump that she was not an attorney because “those questions weren't asked”.
Trump addressed the matter on Friday while speaking to reporters in front of Marine One. “I said, Is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don't need this. You don't have to be treated this badly,” he said.
He said he had told Zacharia: “I think you're better off being happy, and I'm not sure you can ever be happy in this stuff.” He added: “If I were you, I'd reconsider... think about it. But I would reconsider.”
White House officials said Zacharia would soon be “transitioning out” of the post. She served as press secretary for five days, the shortest tenure for a White House press secretary in the institution’s history.
Zacharia, 42, succeeded Karoline Leavitt in the role.
She has a JD from Pepperdine University’s law school and worked as an associate at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. Her experience included international transactional law.
Before joining the White House, Zacharia was a frequent presence on Fox and Newsmax. She also had a brief period as a spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security and worked as a communications adviser for Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Her earlier political work included internships in 2006 at the Republican National Committee and the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Bush administration.
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