Donald Trump’s newly appointed White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, has stated that it is “unknown” how often she will engage with the media or conduct press briefings. The spokesperson, who replaced Karoline Leavitt in a rapid leadership transition, made the comments during an interview on Thursday as she continues to face intense public scrutiny regarding her legal credentials.
Zacharia described a whirlwind recruitment process that began on 7 October when she received a call from a White House official. At the time, she was living in Los Angeles with her family. After being asked to travel to Washington for a meeting, she arrived the following day and was offered the position on Friday. By the following Monday, she was already on the job, having spent the weekend traveling back to Washington after a brief return home to see her husband, children, and dogs. Her first official briefing, which she was asked to conduct on her second day, was met with widespread criticism.
The scrutiny intensified following her debut briefing on Tuesday, where she struggled to answer a question regarding where she passed the bar exam. When asked, she initially replied, “When I moved to China.” She later told the New York Times that she had misheard the question due to the sound of Marine One on the South Lawn, believing the reporter asked where she was after law school. She did not confirm if she had passed the bar exam during that exchange. LinkedIn records indicate that after graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2011, she worked as an associate at the Beijing-based law firm Zhong Lun from 2011 to 2013.
A person familiar with the matter stated that Zacharia “stands by” the title of lawyer, noting that she has consulted with other legal professionals about the designation and maintains that she provided “legal analysis” rather than legal advice. The Campaign for Accountability, a non-profit watchdog, has requested that the State Bar of California investigate whether she misled the public. Zacharia’s professional history has also drawn interest, including a 10-year gap on her LinkedIn profile. Wired reported that during this time, she worked as an “affiliate marketer” for Beachbody, a company she described as “sort of a pyramid scheme.” She also claims to have served as “general counsel” for Fix California, a conservative group founded by Ric Grenell.
When asked about her reasons for being offered the press secretary role, Zacharia, who previously served as an advisor to Trump Media Group and briefly as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, declined to comment. Regarding her future media strategy, she noted that she will follow the president’s lead, stating that Trump is his own best spokesperson and she will interact with the press “as needed.”
Katie Zacharia tells Guardian her first, widely panned, press briefing followed six-day sprint to appoint her to key role
Zacharia also said she “did not want to be seen lobbying” for the press secretary role, in her interview with the conservative outlet Human Events. Instead, she said she closely monitored the president’s social media posts before appearing on conservative talkshows to “audition” for the job.
