‘DC Beltway lies’: Katie Zacharia denies trying to get White House press secretary job back

WASHINGTON, DC: Katie Zacharia, the former White House press secretary, has dismissed rumors that she is trying to get her old job back. She called reports suggesting she was auditioning for a return “utterly fake.” Her response came after the New York Post published a report claiming that several Trump advisers believed she was trying to make her way back into the administration, weeks after Trump fired her.

According to the report, Zacharia was eager to impress both Trump and his new chief of staff, Stephen Miller. It also pointed to her appearance on Right Side Broadcasting Network's election-night coverage as an attempt to show she was still interested in the position. Zacharia rejected the claims on social media, accusing journalists of spreading false information based on anonymous sources.

Katie Zacharia calls White House return reports ‘DC Beltway lies’

On Monday, November 9, the New York Post reported, citing three people close to Trump, that Zacharia was trying to return to the White House as press secretary. According to one source, she took on the job of anchoring RSBN's election-night coverage last Tuesday because she hoped Trump would notice her and reconsider her for the position.

That source did not hold back, calling her effort “absurd” and “truly embarrassing,” and saying Zacharia had talked about her aims out in the open. However, another person who spoke with her later said she brushed off the comment as a joke.

Zacharia also made an appearance at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort over the weekend. One source claimed she stood around, watching Trump and trying to catch his eye as he prepared to shake up his administration. Just recently, Trump had replaced Susie Wiles with Miller as chief of staff after the Republican Party's poor performance in the midterms.

One of the Post's sources claimed Zacharia had “decided to help anchor Right Side Broadcasting Network’s election-night coverage last Tuesday hoping that Trump would see her performance and decide she’s right for the job,” which was similar to how she had used appearances on Fox News and other conservative media outlets to gain Trump's favor the first time.

Zacharia herself shot down the rumors, sharing a TMZ article on her social media.

She added that reporters and outlets pushing what she called “abject falsehoods” were contributing to a “fake news machine” and were a major reason Americans had lost trust in the media.

“I’m not auditioning for the role. Claims that I’m trying to get my old job back as President Trump’s White House Press Secretary are utterly fake,” she wrote.

Why Katie Zacharia's White House press secretary tenure ended after five days

Zacharia’s stint as White House press secretary barely lasted a week. In October, she held just one briefing, a short appearance during which she struggled to answer reporters' questions and faced criticism for looking uneasy.

Questions about her professional background followed. Although Zacharia called herself a lawyer and claimed she had practiced law, she later admitted she had failed the California bar exam and did not have a license to practice anywhere in the US.

She tried to turn things around with appearances on Fox News, going on air with Sean Hannity and chatting on 'Fox & Friends.' Those interviews did not help. White House officials pointed to her brief time at the podium, along with those TV appearances, when explaining why they did not plan to bring her back.

A source close to Zacharia, meanwhile, said she was not interested in returning and was focused on defending free speech and supporting Trump's priorities through other channels.