White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia with President Donald Trump as he speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, confirmed on Thursday, Oct. 15, that she had never passed a bar exam or been an “attorney,” even while maintaining in her first extended interview since taking the job that she had not misrepresented her legal career. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
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President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was fired Friday, after less than a week on the job, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Neither the White House nor Zacharia responded to requests for comment.
But Trump told reporters on Friday that he had encouraged Zacharia to “reconsider” the job.
“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” he said, recounting his conversation with his press secretary.
He added: “Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.”
Zacharia had gotten off to a bumpy start with her first and final press briefing Tuesday, followed by an onslaught of headlines about whether she had misrepresented herself as a lawyer — the president called her “an attorney” — despite failing her bar exam.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Shawn McCreesh, Tyler Pager and Hamed Aleaziz/Kenny Holston
c. 2026 The New York Times Company
