Katie Zacharia is out as Trump's White House press secretary after disastrous first week on the job

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By PHILLIP NIETO, US POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 18:10 BST, 16 October 2026 | Updated: 22:55 BST, 16 October 2026

Katie Zacharia has been fired from her role as White House press secretary after less than five days on the job. 

A senior White House official told the Daily Mail that Zacharia is 'transitioning out' of the position on Friday.

Earlier, Donald Trump told reporters at the White House he asked her to consider quitting.

'You don't have to do this if you don't want to,' Trump said he told Zacharia. 'Honestly if I were you I'd reconsider.'

'Maybe it's not for her,' Trump added. When asked if he would fire her, Trump responded: 'No, I want her to have a good life.' 

Zacharia has been press secretary for less than five days. Her tenure has been rocky from the start after a 14-minute debut briefing drew criticism for her nervous stature. 

Trump later told Fox News he is in 'no rush' to name a replacement press secretary. It comes after revelations that Zacharia never passed the bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine Law School despite describing herself as an attorney.

Her tenure is now shorter than Anthony Scaramucci’s famously brief 11 days as White House communications director in 2017. She previously only lasted six weeks as a communications adviser at Homeland Security earlier this year.

Donald Trump asked Katie Zacharia to consider quitting as White House press secretary less than one week on the job

Zacharia on Sean Hannity on Thursday night

Zacharia has been press secretary for less than four days. Her tenure has been rocky from the start after a 14-minute debut briefing that drew criticism for her nervous stature

Zacharia and her family are scheduled to have dinner with Vice President JD Vance and his family on Friday night, a source familiar told the Daily Mail.

Trump named Zacharia to the post on October 9 to replace Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August after about 19 months as press secretary.

The President made the decision to hire Zacharia during a 72-hour period last week without consulting his chief of staff Susie Wiles, the Daily Mail previously reported. 

Before joining the White House, Zacharia was a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group.

She spent two months earlier this year as a deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.

Her debut briefing on Tuesday lasted just 14 minutes and allowed questions from only three reporters. Leavitt’s briefings averaged about 45 minutes.

When reporters asked that day where she had passed the bar, Zacharia said she had passed it when she moved to China. 

She later told the New York Times she hadn’t heard the question over the noise of Marine One.

In a tense interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night, she acknowledged that she failed the California bar exam in 2011, never retook it and considered the results inconsequential.

As the segment ended, she promised Hannity she would be very prepared going forward and would step up to the duty the President had given her.