BREAKING: Katie Zacharia Out as White House Press Secretary After Five Days, The New York Times and Fox News Report; Trump Says He Told Her ‘I Would Reconsider’
Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after less than a week on the job, according to reports from The New York Times and Fox News, after President Donald Trump publicly cast doubt on her future on Friday, telling reporters on the South Lawn as he left for Georgia that he had told her, “I think you’re better off being happy,” the Associated Press reported.
Trump said Zacharia had been treated “very unfairly” by the press and had been “brutalized by the media,” and that he had told her she has a great life and family without the job, according to the AP. He said he would make a final determination later and that many people would want the job.
Shortly after Trump spoke, a senior White House official told Fox News that Zacharia is “transitioning out” of the role, Fox News reported, and The New York Times reported that she had been fired after five days on the job. Trump himself did not say she was leaving; asked whether she was fired, he said, “No no. I want her to have a good life,” according to Fox News. As of this writing, the White House had not issued a formal announcement.
WHAT TRUMP SAID
Asked whether he would have liked to know that Zacharia did not pass the bar exam and how he would rate her performance, according to a transcript published by Mediaite, Trump said in remarks posted on video by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account: “Well, Katie’s been treated very badly by the media. Very, very badly. Very unfairly, I think.”
He said he had just spoken with her. “I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?’ Because, you know, she’s been treated very rough, and she’s a nice person. Very nice person,” Trump said, adding that he had watched her “for years on television.” He said he told her “just two minutes ago” that “you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” and that she had replied, “This is a lot tougher.”
Asked if he would keep her, Trump said, “I’m going to let her make that decision,” and when a reporter suggested it was up in the air, he answered, “It’s up, yeah.” He went on: “And I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider.’”
Trump said he had met Zacharia’s family the day before. “I just want her to be happy. Look, she has suffered over the last few days,” he said. “I’ll do whatever she wants.”
Trump said the decision would be hers. “When I get back we’re going to talk, because I don’t think that Katie should be made to suffer like she’s suffering at the hands of the press,” he said in a clip posted by Acyn. “So I will talk to her as soon as I get back.”
Trump also addressed the bar exam. “Some of them take the bar exam four times, but I wasn’t hiring as a lawyer,” he said, adding that Zacharia had been “loyal to me from day one.” He said he told her, “I think you’re better off being happy,” and added, “I’m not sure you can ever be happy in this job. There’s nothing easy about this job.”
A ROCKY FIRST WEEK
Trump announced Zacharia as press secretary on Oct. 9, Fox News reported. She replaced Karoline Leavitt, who left the role in August, according to The Guardian. Zacharia previously served as a senior communications adviser to Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates Trump’s Truth Social platform, and as a deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, according to Fox News.
Her first briefing, on Oct. 13, lasted about 14 minutes and she took questions from three journalists, Fox News and The Guardian reported.
Since then, she has faced questions over her legal credentials. Trump called her “an attorney” when announcing her appointment, ABC News reported, and she has described herself as a lawyer. Asked on Fox News by Sean Hannity on Thursday night, “You went to Pepperdine law school but you did not pass the bar exam, correct?” Zacharia replied, “Correct,” according to ABC News. She has said she called herself a lawyer, not an attorney, ABC News and The Guardian reported.
HOW KATIE ZACHARIA HAS RESPONDED
Zacharia has defended herself in a series of Fox News interviews. On Hannity, she said of her first briefing: “What I feel is I really stepped up to the plate with very little prep time,” Fox News reported. On “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning, asked whether she wished she had told Trump about the bar exam, she said, “Those questions weren’t asked,” adding, “I’m being hired as White House press secretary, not White House counsel,” according to The Guardian. Asked on Fox on Friday whether she still has the president’s confidence, she said, “I’m standing here,” The Guardian reported.
The Digital Free Press will update this story as it develops.
Sources: The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/politics/katie-zacharia-fired-press-secretary.html | Associated Press, via The Morning Call: https://www.mcall.com/2026/10/16/trump-press-secretary-zacharia/ | Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-casts-doubt-new-press-secretarys-future-after-rocky-white-house-debut | Rapid Response 47 on X (video): https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2111143110826975343 | Acyn on X (video): https://x.com/Acyn/status/2111144922892161235 and https://x.com/Acyn/status/2111143539803570250 | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/16/white-house-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-fox-news | ABC News: https://abcnews.com/Politics/white-house-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-pass-bar/story?id=137299415 | Mediaite: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/breaking-katie-zacharia-out-as-trump-press-secretary-after-days-on-the-jon/
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