Katie Zacharia was ‘perplexed’ when Trump ally Sean Hannity gave ‘hostile’ interview that preceded her ousting as White House press secretary

Former press secretary Katie Zacharia said she was left ‘perplexed’ when Sean Hannity pressed her about her credentials in what she said was a ‘hostile’ interview.

Zacharia, 42, appeared on Hannity’s Fox News show on October 15, following a disastrous first press briefing in which she stumbled over her words and kept the usually hour-long briefing to just 15 minutes as she took just three questions.

She had apparently been expecting a cordial conversation, after Hannity defended the embattled press secretary on his show. 

‘Zacharia’s being mocked,’ he said just two days before he had her on air. ‘She’s been attacked over her appearance, her hair, the way she spoke. They questioned her intelligence, her credentials. They even asked about her bar exam.’

But when Zacharia came on the show, Hannity grilled her over the same credentials – including her claim about being a lawyer despite never having passed the bar exam.

Newsmax host Rob Finnerty has since suggested that somebody at the White House had given Hannity permission to question Zacharia harshly – a claim both Fox News and Hannity have denied.

‘Katie, I was shocked by the Hannity treatment if I’m being honest,’ Finnerty told Zacharia in her first interview since leaving the White House.

‘I don’t think he does that if he doesn’t get the green light from somebody, perhaps at the White House,’ he continued. ‘I don’t know, what do you make of this narrative that Fox did this on purpose.’

Zacharia then revealed that Hannity’s team had offered her a job as a California correspondent earlier in the year.

‘I’m just as perplexed about what happened, specifically with Sean Hannity,’ she responded.  

Finnerty then asked whether Hannity’s team questioned her on her credentials when they offered her the job.

‘I doubt that he had any interest in your educational background at that point when you had that call,’ he said. ‘Is that accurate? Is that fair?’

‘We never had a conversation about my educational background,’ Zacharia then confirmed.

At that point, the Newsmax host asked whether she would ever return to Hannity’s show.

‘Look, I never bow away from a fight or back away from a fight,’ she replied.

‘I’ve been on CNN. I’ve debated some of the most hostile, not anchors, but guests. And I’ve been able to do it with grace, with dignity and walk away and even maintain decorum,’ Zacharia continued, saying she would have been better prepared if she had scheduled an interview with someone like CNN’s Jake Tapper.

‘But because I had had a very friendly rapport with Sean, and he had even made very backing statements about me on Tuesday, October 13th, really coming to my defense, I was not prepared for the hostility that I received.’

In the interview with Hannity, Zacharia tried to defend calling herself a ‘lawyer’ as the Fox News host questioned her about her credentials.

She then admitted that she failed the bar exam on her first try, and confirmed she never took the exam a second time. 

‘For background, I graduated Pepperdine, got married in the same week, we had all intent to move out to China,’ Zacharia explained to Hannity, giving the backstory on why she failed.

‘I had already pre-registered for the bar exam, basically during the summer I had learned I was moving to China so the results would be inconsequential.’

Hannity also challenged Zacharia’s 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.’

She then tried to explain that it had been a whirlwind week for her, having only interviewed for the job one week before she was asked to give her first briefing.

‘I had been on the job for one day and instead of taking questions, probably should’ve stepped aside,’ she told Hannity, while adding she feels ‘I did my very best to deliver for the American people.’

She said the right thing to do might have been to just give ‘a brief intro’ to the press corps and noted she had only been on the job ‘for eight hours.’ 

But just one day after giving the interview, Zacharia was brutally ousted from her position at the White House, making her the shortest-serving press secretary in White House history. 

Still, Zacharia said she remains ‘ruthlessly loyal’ to President Donald Trump.

‘It was an honor to work for President Trump, and no one has been more relentlessly attacked by the media than him,’ she previously told Newsweek.

Zacharia then vowed that ‘the best is yet to come,’ and said her week in the Trump administration included working ‘around the clock’ ahead of the midterm elections. 

‘As Rudyard Kipling wrote, “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch.” After a week with him on the midterm blitz, I saw that in action,’ Zacharia said. 

‘Working around the clock with world leaders – bringing hostages home and brokering peace – while speaking to crowds of Americans to win the midterms and deliver for the people.

‘No one has carried the water for the Republican Party and America First like he has for over a decade, all without losing the common touch.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Fox News for comment.