Katie Zacharia gives 14-minute debut briefing as White House press secretary

Katie Zacharia, Donald Trump’s newly appointed White House press secretary, made her first appearance before reporters at the White House on 13 October, taking questions from three journalists during a session lasting about 14 minutes.¹²³⁴

First appearance

Zacharia’s debut briefing was brief: she answered three questions and then directed reporters to put questions to Trump, who was due to speak on the South Lawn. The Associated Press similarly reported that she answered questions from only three outlets before ending the session. The BBC described it as the shortest White House briefing its reporter had seen.¹³⁴

During the briefing, Zacharia said campaign-rally attendance was at record levels and said Americans were filling arenas in support of Trump and Republicans. Asked by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she replied: “I will have to get back to you on that.”¹

Appointment and response

On Friday, Trump announced Zacharia as his choice for press secretary, saying it was an honour to appoint her and calling her “a devoted fan.” After her first briefing, he said: “I thought she was very good.” The Washington Post said he made the appointment without involving senior White House officials, leaving staff with limited time to ready her for the appearance.¹²

The Guardian reported that Zacharia had recently served as a communications adviser for the company that owns Truth Social, Trump Media and Technology Group, after an earlier brief stint at the Department of Homeland Security. The same report said she had been a regular conservative talkshow commentator who defended administration policies. It also reported that she replaced Karoline Leavitt, a point listed as unconfirmed in the dossier.¹

Zacharia said she passed the bar examination after moving to China. She also said Trump had hired more women with families and knew she had four children before entrusting her with the role. Separately, she announced that the White House had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as US ambassador to Greece, saying Guilfoyle had been a valuable member of the team.¹

Press-access case

According to the Guardian, Zacharia’s first appearance occurred as federal judge Timothy Kelly was due to decide a case over the administration’s effort to deny White House access to CNN, Politico and MS Now. Kelly had temporarily prevented Trump from blocking the three newsrooms and extended that pause until 13 October; the outlets asked that the temporary restraining order remain in place while the case continued. A lawyer for the outlets said the proposed exclusion breached the First Amendment, according to the report.¹