President Donald Trump told Katie Zacharia to “reconsider” remaining in her White House press secretary role just one week after appointing her to the high-profile job.
Speaking with members of the press on the South Lawn on Friday, the president revealed he told Zacharia just moments before emerging: “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to… I think you should reconsider.”
A senior White House official tells Fox News that Katie is “transitioning out” of the role.
It comes as her four-day tenure is already marked by mounting scrutiny over her legal credentials and a rocky debut before the White House press corps on Tuesday. Critics have taken aim at Zacharia over her recent interviews attempting to recover from the bumpy start.
Zacharia was named to the role Oct. 9 and stepped behind the White House podium for her first press briefing just days later on Oct. 13. The briefing lasted 14 minutes and Zacharia took only three questions.
“Maybe it’s not for her,” Trump acknowledged in his brief remarks outside the White House on Friday.
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When pressed if this update meant that Trump fired Zacharia, the president walked back. “No no. I want her to have a good life,” he said.
“She’s been brutalized by the media,” Trump added.
During an appearance on “Hannity” Thursday night, Zacharia was pressed over whether she could refer to herself as an attorney. Zacharia admitted she did not pass the bar exam and never obtained a law license in the United States.
“I had already pre-registered for the bar exam, and basically during the summer, I knew I would be living in China and the result of the bar would be inconsequential. I sat for it because I didn’t want to have a withdraw status,” she said.
Zacharia was also pressed on her fumbled briefing.
“What I feel is I really stepped up to the plate with very little prep time,” Zacharia said. “Given the fact that I’d been on the job less than maybe eight hours and had a briefing book in the morning, I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day.”
Zacharia’s debut drew scrutiny over several verbal stumbles, including a moment when she mistakenly referred to her husband as “my president” before correcting herself, as well as the briefing’s brevity, during which she took questions from just three journalists in 14 minutes.
Karoline Leavitt’s first White House press briefing lasted nearly 47 minutes, while Sean Spicer’s debut ran roughly 79 minutes. While Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ first briefing as press secretary lasted about 23 minutes in 2017.
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A White House official, who told MS NOW that she could end up with a shorter tenure than Anthony Scaramucci, whose notoriously brief stint as President Donald Trump’s White House communications director lasted just 10 days before he was ousted in July 2017.
“Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot,” the unnamed White House official said, MS NOW reported. “She needs to get much better, fast, otherwise she’ll break Scaramucci’s record.”
The White House doubled down on supporting Zacharia Wednesday when asked by Fox News Digital for comment on the Scaramucci comparison reportedly coming from the White House.
“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team. She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.
The White House X account @PressSec, formerly run by Leavitt before switching to White House Press Office, never switched over to Zacharia. The account has not posted since Oct. 7.
Zacharia, whom Trump described as an attorney when announcing her appointment, previously served as senior communications adviser to Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the president’s social media platform, Truth Social.
Zacharia previously served as deputy assistant secretary for public affairs and a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy contributed to this report.