Questions are already swirling around how long Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, will last after a disastrous first press briefing at the White House and doubts about her resume.
Zacharia kicked off the press briefing at the White House — the first since Katherine Leavitt left the job in July — by reading some remarks about the day’s news and then only taking three questions from reporters from Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail.
Zacharia spent most of the briefing reading Trump’s talking points word for word from her notes, and barely making any eye contact with the packed room. It was difficult to watch.
Zacharia’s nervousness was very apparent from the outset as she stumbled over her lines and mixed up words, even seeming like she was struggling to read at times. At one point, when answering a question about how she will juggle being a mum of four kids with the new job, she referred to her husband as “my president” before laughing it off saying “that’s a good one”.
When asked by a reporter from Fox News about whether the US was withholding intelligence from Ukraine, she could only come up with “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
She had the same blonde, made-up look of her predecessors in the role, Leavitt and Kayleigh McEnany.
She ended the briefing abruptly after 14 minutes, with Zacharia indicating Trump himself could answer any remaining questions later that day.
Soon after, Zacharia’s credentials as a lawyer were brought into question when a reporter asked Trump where she passed the bar exam.
“Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?” a reporter asked Trump, who turned to Zacharia to ask her, “which state?”
“When I moved to China,” Zacharia responded.
It remains unclear what Zacharia meant by this and whether she passed the bar in the US, or anywhere. Her LinkedIn profile shows Zacharia has her JD from Pepperdine University. And then worked as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing, China from 2011to 2013.
The question now is how long she will last in the role. Shortly after the press briefing, Trump said he thought she was “very good”. But we know from history his patience doesn’t tend to last long.
Anthony Scaramucci, who famously held the position as Trump’s communications director for just 11 days, tweeted: “The clock is running. Thus far 1/11th of a Scaramucci.”