Katie Zacharia Out As Press Secretary After Five Days

Katie Zacharia is no longer the White House press secretary after five days in the role, bringing an abrupt end to a tumultuous tenure, according to two White House officials and a third person familiar with the matter.

They were all granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

Zacharia’s brief stint started off rocky and went downhill from there. Her first press conference was widely panned. Then followed revelations that she inflated her credentials, calling herself an attorney when she never passed the bar exam — though she did graduate from Pepperdine University Law School.

During her first briefing, Zacharia took just three questions from reporters and spent much of her time reciting President Donald Trump's accomplishments. She did rounds of damage control interviews with several media outlets after bruising criticism, but they seemingly did little to assuage concerns that she was not up to the task of sparring with the media.

Shortly after being installed in her new job, it was clear Trump was having second thoughts. He told reporters Friday before leaving for a campaign trip to Georgia that he urged her to “reconsider.”

“I just spoke to her about it,” he told reporters outside the White House. “I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?’ Because she’s been treated very rough.”

Trump, according to one of the White House officials, told Zacharia directly that she really needed to reconsider the position. But the official added that the president, in an earlier meeting that Zacharia was not present for, told attendees that she had no talent and shouldn't be on television.

Zacharia did not respond to a request for comment.

Megan Messerly and Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.