Trump was ‘embarrassed’ by Katie Zacharia’s briefing, privately questioned performance: Reports

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump reportedly told White House staff that former press secretary Katie Zacharia “had no talent and shouldn’t be on television,” according to a report by Politico’s Daniel Lippman, following her abrupt departure after just five days in the role. 

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins separately reported that Trump was “embarrassed” by the coverage of Zacharia’s first press briefing and privately sought feedback from aides about her performance. Zacharia’s exit was announced on Friday, October 16, following criticism of her debut briefing, tense television interviews, and questions about her legal credentials.

Trump reportedly criticized Katie Zacharia’s performance behind closed doors

Lippman reported on X (formerly Twitter) that a White House official told him Trump made the remarks during a private meeting that Zacharia did not attend.

“One White House official told me that President Trump, in an earlier meeting that Katie Zacharia was not present for, told attendees that she had no talent and shouldn’t be on television,” Lippman wrote.

Collins also reported that the 80-year-old POTUS was “embarrassed” by the coverage of Zacharia’s first press briefing, which lasted approximately 14 minutes on Tuesday. According to her post on X, Trump asked other aides about Zacharia’s performance and found few willing to defend her.

Collins wrote that “I’m told Trump was embarrassed by the coverage of Zacharia’s briefing and when he polled other aides about her, Zacharia had few allies willing to stand up for her or defend her performance.”

She added that “the main reason he rushed to select her after growing irritated with how long the process was taking to replace Karoline Leavitt was because he wanted more people defending him on TV. When she failed to do so in a sufficient way with Sean Hannity, Trump said he knew she needed to go.”

Katie Zacharia's tenure ends after briefing backlash and scrutiny of legal credentials

Zacharia began the job on Monday and delivered her first White House press briefing the following day. The ex-press secretary appeared nervous, referred to notes while discussing the administration’s record and answered only three questions.

Despite previously being described as an attorney by Trump, Zacharia later acknowledged that she had not passed a bar exam after facing questions about claims that she had never practised law. However, Zacharia maintained that she had practiced international transaction law in China with the “appropriate credentials.”

Hours before news of her departure, Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones asked whether she still had Trump’s confidence. Zacharia responded: “I-I-I'm standing here and I was able to travel with him through all of the midterm convention or, excuse me the midterm rallies, and I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.”

However, Trump publicly defended Zacharia on Friday, saying that the media had treated her unfairly and that he had encouraged her to reconsider the job. “You don't have to do this if you don't want to,” the POTUS said he had told her.