Karoline Leavitt takes brutal shot at Katie Zacharia after five-day stint as Trump’s new press secretary
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed a sharp and blunt verdict on Katie Zacharia’s week-long stint in her old job.
‘The job obviously was not for her, but we wish her and her family well,’ Leavitt told Fox News Digital backstage at a Turning Point USA campus tour stop at California Polytechnic State University.
She added that President Trump was continuing to consider his options for the position and that she had offered her expertise to help him find the right replacement.
Leavitt, who served as President Donald Trump’s first press secretary during his second term, opened up about the preparation that went into her first press briefing to the crowd of campus students.
‘I prepared like heck for that first briefing,’ Leavitt said.
‘I poured myself into my preparation. I read, I studied, I talked to every Cabinet member, I talked to the president. I just absorbed as much information as this noggin up here could.’
The comments come after Zacharia’s tenure ended just days after she took the White House briefing-room podium for the first time with a wobbly performance.
Trump announced Zacharia’s appointment on October 9, after first contacting her about the role on October 7.
‘The job obviously was not for her, but we wish her and her family well,’ former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said about her successor, Katie Zacharia
Zacharia’s debut briefing lasted just 14 minutes, taking questions from only three reporters
Trump announced Leavitt’s appointment on November 15, 2024, while he was still president-elect. She didn’t deliver her first White House press briefing until January 28, 2025, giving her more than two months between the announcement and her debut
She officially began the job on October 12 and faced reporters for the first time the following day.
Her debut briefing lasted just 14 minutes, with questions from only three reporters.
Trump subsequently praised her performance, telling reporters: ‘I thought she did excellent. She did very good.’
But the appointment quickly became a talking point, with questions raised about Zacharia’s limited preparation time and her experience handling the White House press corps.
Zacharia also faced questions over her legal credentials after it was brought to light that she had failed California’s bar exam in 2011.
She then moved to Beijing with her husband and worked at a Chinese law firm.
Despite never passing the bar exam, Zacharia frequently appeared on news channels as a legal analyst, offering commentary on legal and political issues while identifying herself as a lawyer.
Zacharia’s rocky debut was followed by an uncomfortable appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on October 15, just hours before she was pushed out of the job the following day.
Hannity delivered a notably tough grilling, confronting her over her widely criticized briefing, pressing her on why she had repeatedly described herself as a lawyer despite failing the California bar exam.
He challenged her explanation for the short briefing, asking: ‘Why only three questions in 14 minutes?’ before warning her that the White House briefing room would ‘never be a friendly room to you.’
Zacharia defended herself by blaming the whirlwind hiring process and lack of preparation time, but the combative interview added to the scrutiny surrounding her brief tenure.
As Leavitt reflects upon her first briefing, the lack of preparation on Zacharia’s end gave a major disadvantage.
Trump announced Leavitt’s appointment on November 15, 2024, while he was still president-elect.
She didn’t deliver her first White House press briefing until January 28, 2025, giving her more than two months between the announcement and her debut.
Leavitt, who was 27 when she took the job, became the youngest White House press secretary in history.
Her first briefing lasted around 46 minutes, during which she took questions on the administration’s agenda and media access.
Leavitt announced her departure from the role on August 12, attributing the decision to wanting to spend more time with her growing family.
Trump praised Leavitt as one of his most trusted aides and said he understood her decision to spend more time with her family.
She also agreed to remain an outside adviser to the president.
Now, however, Leavitt is preparing for a return to the national spotlight.
Fox News announced on October 5 that she would join the network as an on-air contributor, providing political analysis and commentary across its platforms beginning November 1.
