WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was fired Friday after less than a week in the role, following scrutiny over how she had described her legal career and a difficult first White House press briefing, according to three people familiar with the decision.
Trump told reporters Friday that he had encouraged Zacharia to reconsider the position, suggesting she might continue working for him in another capacity.
“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” Trump said, recounting his conversation with Zacharia. He added that she might serve the administration “in some form, but maybe a more pleasant form.”
Neither the White House nor Zacharia immediately responded to requests for comment.
Zacharia began the job Monday, but her tenure quickly came under scrutiny after her first and only press briefing on Tuesday. She largely read from a script and ended the session after answering just three questions.
Questions also emerged over her claims of being a lawyer after reports highlighted that she had failed a bar exam. Trump had referred to her as “an attorney.”
Asked repeatedly by a reporter on the White House South Lawn which state’s bar exam she had passed, Zacharia twice responded, “When I moved to China.” She later told The New York Times that she had misheard the question, although Trump had repeated it while standing nearby.
The pressure intensified after Zacharia appeared on Fox News on Thursday night for an interview with Sean Hannity, a longtime Trump ally, who asked her pointed questions about her qualifications.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning, host Lawrence Jones asked whether she wished she had told Trump about failing the bar exam.
“Well, Lawrence,” Zacharia replied, “those questions weren’t asked.”
Zacharia, a little-known Fox News commentator, was an unexpected choice for the position. Trump offered her the job the previous Friday, and she had the backing of Natalie Harp, a prominent White House aide who frequently accompanies the president. However, some officials in the administration viewed her debut as a failure, according to The New York Times.
Her departure came amid a turbulent week for Trump’s inner circle. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, was dismissed publicly on television Tuesday. Trump also intervened in a dispute between allies Richard Grenell and Alina Mildon.
Paolo Zampolli, a longtime Trump confidant who has said he introduced the president to his wife, was pushed out of the State Department after an internal feud became public. Meanwhile, the overseas business activities of the daughter of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and others in her circle also came under scrutiny.
