Three days into her tenure as White House Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia’s shaky performance at her debut briefing is testing the Trump White House’s MAGA messaging machine and exposing divisions within the administration not seen since the chaotic days of President Donald Trump’s first term.
Zacharia, a Pepperdine law school graduate and ubiquitous television commentator who reportedly sought out the press secretary role by timing her appearances on right-wing networks to when she believed Trump would be watching, left reporters stunned on Wednesday when her initial appearance in the White House briefing room lasted just 14 minutes.
The neophyte spokesperson spent eight minutes of that reading — haltingly — from a scripted statement before she took softball questions from three conservative-leaning outlets and made a hasty exit after confusing the president with her husband and announcing the firing of Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.
The White House’s public messaging kicked into gear immediately thereafter, with Communications Director Stephen Cheung posting on X that Zacharias’ debut was “a tremendous start.”
“She commanded the room and effectively reminded the American people of all the great work President Trump and his Administration has done thus far,” Cheung insisted.
The White House’s official X account similarly described the performance as “a commanding inaugural press briefing,” and President Trump offered praise a short time later when he told reporters: “I thought she was very good.”
Defenders of the administration fanned out across social media and television throughout Tuesday evening and Wednesday, if not to praise Zacharia’s performance than at least to savage her critics as biased — or worse.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, now a paid contributor on Newsmax, said on Wednesday that Zacharia was “not even close to being the worst” White House spokesperson he has seen.
Santorum mocked liberal commentators and late-night television hosts for mocking her performance and suggested that they were attacking the new press secretary because she is white, comparing the criticism to Democrats’ defense of Zacharia’s Biden-era predecessor, Karine Jean-Pierre.
“The people you just saw there commenting on Katie were just rallying behind Karine because she was a DEI hire,” he said. “As long as you’re a DEI hire, you get supported, but if you’re a blonde, white female you get trashed.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity also invoked Jean-Pierre, who was routinely disparaged by Republicans during her tenure, and complained that Zacharia “has been mocked, attacked over her appearance, her hair, the way she spoke” and questioned about her legal credentials by people who once defended the former Biden spokesperson.
But inside Trumpworld, the view of Zacharia is less than glowing.
One former Trump administration official who remains close to people serving in the administration texted The Independent to declare Zacharia’s debut “a train wreck” after previously describing her as a “joke hire” who’d likely be “gone in six months.”
Another insider, a current West Wing denizen, said Zacharia’s outing in the briefing room on Tuesday was “beyond brutal” and suggested that she’ll be on a short leash and will either dramatically improve rapidly or see herself out of the job she campaigned for so effectively.
In addition to the discomfort within the West Wing over the new press secretary’s dismal debut, there is also a growing sense of unease among administration officials over Trump’s decision to cut his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, out of the loop during the hiring process.
Since Karoline Leavitt’s departure, The Independent understands that Wiles was attempting to entice CNN commentator Scott Jennings, the network’s high-profile Trump defender, to replace Leavitt in order to keep the press secretary’s job in the hands of someone who is polished, professional, and understands the complexity of the role.
Not only does a press secretary need to be able to duke it out with reporters in the briefing room, he or she is also tasked with running a large staff who respond to press inquiries at all hours, advising the president and keeping abreast of what is happening behind the scenes.
Leavitt, who had been a low-level staffer in the first Trump White House’s press office, was able to carry out each of those tasks and keep a level of civility in the relations between the press corps and the administration.
But Trump struck when Wiles was out of pocket, making the snap decision to hire Zacharia late last week despite her utter lack of experience in anything except defending him on television.
One veteran of the first Trump White House compared the move to a similar situation during his first term, when Trump was picking a replacement for his second press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
During her nearly two years on the job, Sanders had brought in a longtime associate, Hogan Gidley, to be her principal deputy — and presumed successor.
Gidley, a former local television newsman, was generally liked by members of the press corps and understood the nuances of the relationship between reporters and the press office.
But Trump instead installed Stephanie Grisham, then the first lady’s top spokesperson, in the role.
Grisham never held a single briefing, and Gidley, following the snub, moved over to a role in Trump’s doomed re-election campaign. And without an effective spokesperson or a functioning press operation, Trump’s approval ratings continued to tumble heading into a pivotal election.
Quoting Yankees great Yogi Berra, the aide told The Independent that today’s situation feels a lot like the first term.
“It’s deja vu all over again,” they said.
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