--- title: Katie Zacharia Out as Trump's Press Secretary After 5 Days description: Trump on Friday said to reporters that he had told Zacharia to "reconsider" her role. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/10/16/katie-zacharia-out-as-trump-s-press-secretary-after-1-briefing/ author: Connor Greene article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-10-16T18:09:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-16T18:19:05.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Katie Zacharia Out as Trump's Press Secretary After 5 Days og:description: Trump on Friday said to reporters that he had told Zacharia to "reconsider" her role. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/10/16/katie-zacharia-out-as-trump-s-press-secretary-after-1-briefing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt396aa5ddfce0fbcd/6ad264399518d45029caa3f4/Zacharia-Out.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Zacharia-Out.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Katie Zacharia Out as Trump's Press Secretary After 5 Days twitter:description: Trump on Friday said to reporters that he had told Zacharia to "reconsider" her role. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt396aa5ddfce0fbcd/6ad264399518d45029caa3f4/Zacharia-Out.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Katie Zacharia Out as Trump's Press Secretary After 5 Days > Sponsored content. 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Trump on Friday said to reporters that he had told Zacharia to "reconsider" her role_ by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) and [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/) Updated: Oct 16, 2026 6:19 PM UTCPublished: Oct 16, 2026 6:09 PM UTC by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) and [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/) Updated: Oct 16, 2026 6:19 PM UTCPublished: Oct 16, 2026 6:09 PM UTC Katie [Zacharia](https://time.com/article/2026/10/09/katie-zacharia-white-house-press-secretary-leavitt-trump/) is exiting her job as White House Press Secretary after just five days in the position, according to a person familiar with the situation. President Donald Trump on Friday said to reporters that he told Zacharia to reconsider her role, amid reports that she had already been relieved of the job. “I said to her honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider,” Trump said outside of the White House, adding, “Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.” Trump said that the decision was ultimately hers, and that he would speak with Zacharia following a trip to Georgia. “I just want her to be happy,” he said. Zacharia’s brief stint as press secretary is bound to draw comparisons to Anthony Scaramucci’s 11-day run as Trump's White House communications director in 2017\. Then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly fired Scaramucci after he had given a fiery interview to [The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramuccis-ouster-may-show-that-john-kelly-has-the-rare-ability-to-rein-in-trump) in which he attacked his colleagues. In Washington parlance, the tenures of prominent White House officials have since been jokingly measured in “Scaramuccis.” Trump said that Zacharia has been treated “pretty nastily” and “very unfairly” by the media since taking over for former Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “I said you should reconsider because you don't want to go through this,” he said in reference to the critical media response Zacharia received following her first press briefing on Tuesday. Trump called Zacharia “an attorney” in his Truth Social [post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117412672479473994) announcing her position, and Zacharia has described herself as a lawyer. But when asked by a reporter where she had passed the bar, Zacharia responded “when I moved to China.” She later said that she had misheard the question. Zacharia then acknowledged while speaking on Fox that she had failed the bar exam. "You went to Pepperdine law school but you did not pass the bar exam, correct?" Fox host Sean Hannity asked Zacharia on Thursday. "Correct," Zacharia replied. When asked whether she regretted never having told the White House that she failed the bar, Zacharia responded “those questions weren’t asked,” and “I’m being hired as White House press secretary, not White House counsel.” Zacharia previously worked as a general counsel at a the conservative non-profit Fix California. She also has experience working as a communications adviser at Trump Media and Technology Group, which houses the President’s social media platform Truth Social. She previously worked as a spokesperson for former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and is a regular on conservative media outlets like Fox News and Newsmax. Zacharia received a wave of criticism following her first press briefing, which lasted just 14 minutes and during which she only took questions from three reporters. Leavitt, the youngest press secretary in White House history, stepped down in August after returning from maternity leave. She recently joined Fox News as an on-air contributor. ## Transcript [00:00] Well, Katie's been treated very [00:01] badly by the media very, very badly. [00:03] Very unfairly, I think. [00:05] And I just spoke to her about it. [00:07] I said, Katie, is this for you? [00:09] Because, you know, she's been treated very rough [00:11] and she's a nice person, very nice person. [00:15] I've watched her for years on television. [00:17] But I said, is this for you, Katie? [00:19] Because honestly, you don't need this. [00:22] You don't have to be treated the, [00:24] I would say the fake news, [00:25] but just generally the media's been very rough. [00:28] She was on Sean Hannity last night [00:31] and Sean was a little bit tough. [00:34] And she did. I saw Fox [00:36] and Friends this morning. They were a little tough. [00:38] She's been treated, uh, [00:40] I would say pretty nastily. [00:43] And I said to Katie, [00:44] just two minutes ago, I said, [00:45] Katie, you know, you don't have to do this. [00:48] You don't want. She said, [00:50] this is a lot tougher. [00:52] I said, welcome to the world of Trump. [00:54] So Caroline did a very good job. [00:56] Uh, I think Katie maybe would do, [00:58] but Katie is off to a start [01:00] that the news has been so nasty to her. [01:03] I've never seen anything like it actually reconsidering. [01:06] And I said, I said to her, [01:07] honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. [01:10] You think about it, [01:11] but I would reconsider. [01:12] You got a beautiful husband and family. [01:14] I met the family yesterday. Beautiful kids. [01:17] It's like from a picture postcard. [01:18] And I said, you should reconsider [01:20] because you don't want to go through this. [01:22] What do you want her to do? [01:24] I just want her to be happy. [01:26] I'll have anybody else on [01:27] your list for potential press secretary. [01:29] A lot of people want the job. [01:31] I'll bet you'd want it if I offered it to you. 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