Follow-up: White House Official Confirms Press Secretary Zacharia Is Out After Just Five Days
Washington — A White House official confirmed to multiple news outlets on October 16 that Press Secretary Katie Zacharia is leaving the role, just five days after she officially started on October 12.
USA Today reported that five people familiar with the decision, including three senior White House officials, confirmed the move, describing Zacharia as transitioning out of the job. NPR cited a White House official giving the same account, Fox News also cited a senior White House official, and The New York Times first reported that she had been fired.
The confirmation came hours after President Donald Trump spoke about her future earlier the same day. Before departing for a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump told reporters at the White House that he had advised Zacharia to reconsider the job, said it might not be for her and that she had been treated roughly by the media, and said the decision was hers and that they would talk again after he returned to Washington, as GSM reported at midday. Hours later, White House officials confirmed her departure to reporters.
Zacharia, 41, was named by Trump on October 9 to succeed Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August. She held her only briefing on October 13, which lasted about 14 minutes and took questions from just three reporters, drawing widespread criticism. Her description of herself as a lawyer then came under scrutiny: she did not pass the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine's law school in 2011, as she acknowledged on Fox News on October 15, and watchdog groups have filed complaints with the State Bar of California, as GSM reported on October 15.
Several outlets noted that her five-day tenure was shorter than the 11 days Anthony Scaramucci served as White House communications director in 2017 during Trump's first term. Zacharia and the White House had not responded to requests for comment, and no successor has been announced.
(Sources: USA Today, NPR, Fox News and other reporting, October 16, 2026)
Source: 《今日美国报》、美国国家公共广播电台
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：白宫新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚2026年10月13日在白宫布雷迪新闻简报室主持首场简报会、面对记者席（P20261013AH-0248）。白宫官方照片，Andrea Hanks 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons
- 2026-10-15White House Press Secretary Zacharia's Lawyer Credentials Questioned: Reports Say She Failed the 2011 California Bar Exam; Watchdog Files State Bar Complaint
- 2026-10-16Follow-up: Trump Says He Told Press Secretary Zacharia to Reconsider Staying in the Job
- 2026-10-16Follow-up: White House Official Confirms Press Secretary Zacharia Is Out After Just Five DaysThis story
- 2026-10-17Ousted Press Secretary Zacharia Denies 'Throwing Trump Under the Bus,' Calling the Claim 'an Abject Lie and Fake News'
