Fact Check: Does the viral video show WH press secretary Katie Zacharia in a beauty pageant?
WASHINGTON, DC: As Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, faces online mockery for her briefing room debut, a video began circulating on social media platforms that claims to show her flustered and rambling at a beauty pageant. The video has been shared widely, with many mocking her, while a few others remained skeptical and called for a fact check.
Claim: Viral video shows Katie Zacharia at a beauty pageant
The viral clip shows a young, blonde pageant contestant wearing a South Carolina sash struggling to answer a question about why many Americans are unable to find the United States on a map.
An X (formerly Twitter) post from October 13 shared the clip along with the caption, “Please meet the new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia.”
The clip has been shared on multiple social media platforms such as X, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, garnering millions of views, with many appearing to believe the young woman in the video is the new press secretary.
Fact Check: The woman in the video is not Katie Zacharia
However, the claim is false, as the young woman in the video is not Zacharia.
A reverse image search of the clip revealed that the woman is Lauren Caitlin Upton and shows a viral moment from her 2007 appearance in the Miss Teen USA pageant, where she said her mental health suffered; she now works as a model and actress under the name Caite Upton.
One of the X accounts that shared the viral clip admitted that the post was "making fun."
Moreover, the Miss Teen USA competition is open to contestants between the ages of 14 and 18, but Zacharia was born in California in 1984, meaning she would have been ineligible for the pageant in 2007.
Katie Zacharia's briefing room debut
The video surfaced after Zacharia opened her first session at the briefing room podium by reading a lengthy list of what she said were achievements under President Donald Trump, which was a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance that left more questions than answers, with limited time, few questions, and little information.
The briefing lasted only 14 minutes, with Zacharia taking three questions from reporters representing conservative-leaning outlets such as Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail.
During the session, she addressed the administration’s approach to new media, Trump’s midterm campaign travel, and the resignation of US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.
