White House press secretary Zacharia exiting role after short tenure

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia exits role after short tenure

The full report

Katie Zacharia, the newly appointed White House press secretary, has exited her role after a short tenure of five days. According to multiple US news outlets, including The New York Times and Yahoo News, Zacharia's departure follows controversy surrounding her background and a rocky debut at the podium.

Zacharia's appointment as the 37th White House Press Secretary was announced by President Donald Trump last Friday. However, she became embroiled in controversy when it was revealed that her earlier claims of being a lawyer were false. Until last week, Zacharia was a commentator for conservative outlets Fox News and Newsmax.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Zacharia was an associate at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. She was also a general counsel at Fix California, an advocacy group founded by Trump ally Richard Grenell, from 2024 to 2025. Grenell served as acting director of national intelligence in 2020.

Zacharia earned her law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011. While nearly all licensed US lawyers first obtain a law degree, law school graduates cannot legally practice law in the US without first being admitted to a state bar. Reuters also investigated her credentials and 'could not find records showing Zacharia was registered as an attorney or member of the bar in any U.S. state or the District of Columbia.'

President Trump signaled on Friday that he might replace Zacharia after less than one week on the job. Trump told reporters that he told Zacharia to 'reconsider' whether she 'need[s] this' job, adding that he wanted her to have a good life and not be 'brutalized by the media.'