New White House Press Secretary Debuts With A Very Short Briefing, Some Breaking News And Lots Of Praise For Donald Trump

Katie Zacharia made her debut as Donald Trump‘s new White House press secretary on Tuesday with a very short briefing that nevertheless offered a bit of breaking news as well as a lot of praise and thanks for her new boss.

“I have wanted to work for him for a very long time,” she told reporters, crunched into the tight briefing room space of the West Wing.

The briefing lasted less than 15 minutes, as she took only a handful of questions from three reporters before noting that the president would soon be speaking to reporters as he departed for three-day midterm campaign swing. But there were some laughs of surprise among reporters, caught off guard at the abrupt end to the briefing.

“On my watch, that was 14 minutes,” Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer told viewers.

As short as it was, she did breaking some news. Asked about the fate of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former fiance of Donald Trump Jr. who is now the U.S. ambassador to Greece. Zacharia said, “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign.” In a bombshell story last week, The Wall Street Journal reported on a message that Guilfoyle sent to a Trump donor, asking him to wire $100,000 directly to American Express to pay off her bill. The donor had been seeking her help accessing administration officials. Her attorney has challenged the authenticity of the messages, per the Journal.

Zacharia was not as well known to the press corps compared to other candidates whose names were floated following the departure of Karoline Leavitt in August. Under Trump, the job has become much more about playing to an audience of one, which was apparent as she started her briefing by referring to his rally in Youngstown, OH, on Monday night.

“The arena was overflowing with enthusiasm as thousands came out to support President Trump, as well as special guests Jake Paul and football legend John Gruden,” she told reporters, perhaps as a way to counter social media posts of rows of empty seats at the event. At his first appearance as Trump’s first press secretary in 2017, Sean Spicer called in reporters to insist that the new president’s inaugural crowd size was record setting.

She also made clear that, at least for the next few weeks, her job will be to tout, defend and amplify Trump’s record, as she ran through a list of accomplishments amid the president’s sagging approval numbers. At one point, she compared average annual earnings under Trump to that of Biden, reflecting White House efforts to point to economic data while polls show the president way underwater on issues like inflation.

Given the truncated briefing, Zacharia also was not asked about her past social media posts, including conspiracy related content that amplified claims that Democrats and Hollywood elites were involved in pedophile rings, per CNN. In response to its report on her social media activity, she told the network, “I am grateful to serve President Trump as Press Secretary, and I will diligently and effectively amplify his successful agenda.”