Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after just five days in the job, according to NBC News, which cited a senior administration official, an administration official and a source familiar with the decision.
NBC News, an outlet with 9.3 million followers on X, reported the departure in a post published Friday afternoon. "BREAKING: Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after just five days in the job, three sources say," the outlet wrote.
ABC News, which has 18.6 million followers on X, followed with its own post roughly forty-five minutes later, writing that Zacharia is "transitioning out" of the role, citing multiple sources and a senior White House official. ABC News' Rachel Scott reported the development.
In a video accompanying the ABC News post, Scott said Zacharia had stood at the podium on Tuesday and took only three questions. "Well, now we just learned. She's officially transitioning out of this role," Scott said in the clip.
Scott also aired comments she said President Trump made to her as he departed the White House. In the transcript of that exchange, the president is heard describing a conversation he said he had with Zacharia about the job. "I said to her honestly, but we like we consider you think about it. But I was drinking and we got a beautiful husband and family. I meant the family as today," the transcript reads. "And I said, you should drink it. Because you don't want to go through it."
Trump continued, according to the transcript: "How much time are you going to give her? Do you want her to take a round with me? I'll talk to her when I get back. We're going home. I'll talk to her tonight or tomorrow. Like I said, I think you should drink it instead." The transcript as aired by ABC News is difficult to follow in places, but the president's comments came as he was leaving the White House and being asked about the press secretary's status.
NBC News reported that earlier Friday, before the departure news broke, Trump said he would let Zacharia decide whether to remain as his press secretary after he suggested she was treated harshly by the media during her first week on the job.
"She's been treated, I would say pretty nastily, and I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want," Trump said, according to NBC News.
The outlet reported Trump also said that if he were in her shoes, he would "reconsider" and said he would be having a conversation with her later about her situation.
NBC News reported that Zacharia is scheduled to have dinner Friday with Vice President JD Vance and his family at his residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Zacharia held her first press briefing on Tuesday, just one day after she started the job, according to NBC News. She came under scrutiny after she had represented herself as a lawyer but acknowledged this week that she did not pass her bar exam following law school, the outlet reported.
The president's quick elevation of Zacharia from conservative media commentator to the high-profile White House job was itself a surprise, NBC News reported. The president announced her appointment on Friday, and she gave her first briefing on Tuesday morning, right after a three-day holiday weekend.
The story has been taken up widely beyond the outlets that broke it. The New York Times reported that the ouster came as Zacharia was shadowed by questions about how she had presented her legal career and handled her first press briefing. Fox News reported that Zacharia has been fired as White House press secretary.
CNN Business reported that Zacharia's firing was foreshadowed by a chilly Fox News reception, and that her first week was all about Katie Zacharia when the role should have been about the president and his agenda. The Guardian, in a live blog, noted that five days on the job would make Zacharia the shortest-serving press secretary, and that a White House official confirmed to the outlet she is "transitioning out" from the role.
The Guardian also pointed to recent reporting as context for the news.
Among the items NBC News listed in its coverage was an item stating that China invited Katie Zacharia to visit more often after she said it lacks "proper toilets."
The underlying claim that Zacharia is leaving the role is being reported on the strength of sourcing at NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The New York Times, CNN Business and The Guardian, and is being described by those outlets as what sources are telling them. President Trump's own comments as aired by ABC News came before the departure was reported.
Next News Network could not independently verify the claim that Zacharia is leaving the White House press secretary role.
The accounts carrying the story span broadcast networks, cable news and print outlets: NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The New York Times, CNN Business and The Guardian. ABC News' post included the on-camera comments from the president and Scott's reporting from the White House.
Our Take
Five days is not a tenure. It is a news cycle. And the fact that a White House press secretary can be elevated from conservative media commentator to the podium and then escorted out again inside a single week tells you something about how the modern press operation is treated by the people who run it and how it is treated by the people who cover it.
Look at what the president himself said, as aired by ABC News. He told reporters he had already told Zacharia she did not have to do the job. He said he would let her decide whether to stay. He said he would talk to her that night or the next day. That is a president publicly leaving his own press secretary twisting, and he did it before the departure was even reported.
The media did what it always does. It made the week about the person instead of the message. CNN Business said as much out loud, noting that her first week was all about Katie Zacharia when the role should have been about the president and his agenda. That is a rare admission from an industry that spent the week doing exactly that.
The bar exam question is a fair one. If you present yourself as a lawyer, you should be able to show the license. But fair questions do not require a five-day execution, and the same outlets that howled about the short tenure had already written the obituary before she finished her first briefing.
The conservative movement gained nothing from this. It lost a voice on the podium. The establishment press gained a scalp, and it will spend the weekend telling you it was all about qualifications. Five days. Remember that number the next time they tell you they just want competent people in the briefing room.
