7-day stint, 1 briefing, no bar license: How Katie Zacharia’s White House career crumbled in a week
Katie Zacharia is leaving her job as White House press secretary one week after she was named.
5 min readOct 17, 2026 08:47 AM IST First published on: Oct 17, 2026 at 08:39 AM IST
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. (Photo :AP)
Katie Zacharia is leaving her post as White House press secretary just a week after being appointed to the role. A source told Fox News Digital that she was leaving, while a senior White House official said she was “transitioning out”. President Donald Trump told reporters on the South Lawn on Friday that he had advised her to reconsider taking the job.
When asked if he had fired her, he said no. Her week included a short first briefing, questions about whether she is a lawyer, and a TV interview in which she said she did not pass the bar exam.
Here is how the days went
October 9: Named to the role
Trump named Zacharia as press secretary on Friday, October 9. He described her as an attorney when he made the announcement, Fox News said. She had been a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that runs Truth Social.
Earlier this year she spent six weeks as deputy assistant secretary for public affairs and a spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security.
WHITE HOUSE · ONE WEEK
From podium to exit: Katie Zacharia’s week as press secretary
Trump named her on October 9. One week later, a person familiar with the matter told AP she is leaving the job after a short, rocky tenure.
PRESS SECRETARY EXIT
1briefing held
~14minutes at the podium
3reporters took questions
5days on the job, Mon to Fri
The week, day by day
Tap a date in the planner to open that day.
OCT 9 · FRIDAY
A surprise pick
- Trump announces her as press secretary, succeeding Karoline Leavitt, the youngest-ever White House press secretary and part of his inner circle for years.
- She comes from a communications job at Trump Media, which runs Truth Social, after a brief stint at the Department of Homeland Security.
OCT 12 · MONDAY
First day on the job
- Her first official day as White House press secretary.
OCT 13 · TUESDAY
First, and only, briefing
- She delivers halting remarks touting the president and his accomplishments, and appears uncomfortable at the podium.
- She takes questions from just three reporters, all from conservative-leaning or Trump-friendly outlets, and leaves after about 14 minutes.
- She later says she kept it short so Trump had time for his own questions, and that she had not been fully briefed by staff beforehand.
OCT 14–15 · WEDNESDAY TO THURSDAY
On the road, no briefings
ALASKA ARIZONA MONTANA
- She travels with Trump to rallies in Alaska, Arizona and Montana.
- She holds no further press briefings.
OCT 16 · FRIDAY
Trump casts doubt; she is leaving
- Before leaving for a rally in Georgia, Trump publicly casts doubt on her future, saying he told her she might want to reconsider the job.
- Later that day, a person familiar with the matter tells AP she is transitioning out of the role.
AP
What they said on Friday
DT
DONALD TRUMP
“I told her, ‘I think you’re better off being happy.’”
“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.”
“Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.”
“When I get back, we’re gonna talk.”
To reporters on the White House lawn, leaving for a rally in Georgia. He said she had been treated unfairly and “brutalized by the media”.
KZ
KATIE ZACHARIA
“I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.”
On Fox News, asked whether she had the president’s confidence. She would not say when her next briefing might be.
AP
The lawyer question
THE CRITICISM
A Pepperdine law graduate, she had long called herself a lawyer as a TV commentator, though she had not passed a bar exam or been otherwise credentialed to practise.
HER ANSWER
She said the term was proper when she offered legal analysis, that she had worked as a lawyer in China, and that she was not asked about the bar before taking the job. Trump noted she was hired as a spokesperson, not as an attorney.
AP
What happens next
Asked who might replace her, Trump said a lot of people wanted the job.
Zacharia did not return messages seeking comment, and the White House offered no immediate comment on her departure.
AP
Sources: Associated Press (Will Weissert, Seung Min Kim and Michelle L. Price).
Express InfoGenIECreated by Aniruddha Dhar
October 13: First briefing
Zacharia gave her first briefing on Tuesday. It lasted 14 minutes, and she took questions from three journalists. Fox News said Karoline Leavitt’s first briefing lasted nearly 47 minutes, Sean Spicer’s about 79 minutes and Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ about 23 minutes. Zacharia made a few slips, including one where she called her husband “my president” and then corrected herself.
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Later that day, Trump and Zacharia were on the South Lawn, about to fly to Alaska for a campaign trip. A reporter shouted a question about which state she passed the bar exam in. Trump turned to her and asked, “which state?” She said she passed it when she moved to China.
President Trump on White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia: "I thought she was very good." Q: "You said she’s an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?" Zacharia: "When I moved to China." Q: "Where did you pass the bar exam?" https://t.co/5xiwyEsVSs
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 13, 2026
October 14: Questions about her law credentials
Popular Information, a newsletter, reported that Zacharia is not licensed to practise law in the United States or in Washington, DC. The Wall Street Journal then reported that she sat the California bar exam after she finished law school at Pepperdine University and did not pass. It said she then moved to China and worked as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm. The group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California over her claims to be a lawyer.
Zacharia told The New York Times by phone that she had misheard the question on the lawn. She said, “That’s all I could hear over the sound of Marine One.” She said she thought she was being asked where she was after law school.
ZACHARIA STUMBLES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT A stammering Zacharia struggles through a soft Hannity interview as even Hannity appears visibly unimpressed with the answers #Europost https://t.co/lnCDAR28Hg
— EuroPost Agency (@EuroPostAgency) October 16, 2026
A White House official told MS NOW that she could have a shorter time in the job than Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 10 days as White House communications director in 2017. White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to Fox News Digital that Zacharia is qualified and will do well in the role.
October 15: Admits she did not pass the bar
Zacharia appeared on “Hannity” on Thursday night. Asked if she could call herself an attorney, she said she did not pass the bar exam and does not hold a US law licence. She said she had signed up for the exam before she knew she would be living in China that summer. She said she sat it so that she would not be listed as having withdrawn.
She was also asked about the briefing. She said she had very little time to prepare and had been in the job for less than eight hours when she got her briefing book that morning.
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October 16: Trump tells her to reconsider
Trump spoke to reporters on the South Lawn on Friday. He said he told her she did not have to do the job and that “I think you should reconsider”. He said “maybe it’s not for her”. Asked if he had fired her, he said “no no” and that he wants her to have a good life. He also said the media had treated her badly.
Trump laments media treating WH Press Sec Zacharia ‘roughly’ and says if she wants to leave ‘it’s her decision’ ‘She’s a wonderful person, they’ve treated her horribly’ https://t.co/fyNIlfQY9Q
— RT Intl (@RT_on_X) October 16, 2026
A source told Fox News Digital that she is leaving the role. She did not give another briefing after October 13.
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