Katie Zacharia hadn’t even left the White House podium after her first on-camera press briefing when her colleagues started knifing her.
‘I feel badly for her… her kids and family watching,’ one source said. A senior Trump communications official called it ‘terrible on so many different levels,’ while another called it ’embarrassing.’ A GOP communications expert sent only a single dumpster fire emoji.
These were among the flurry of barbs about Zacharia, 41, coming from the highest levels of Donald Trump‘s administration, as insiders within the president’s orbit texted the Daily Mail that Tuesday’s briefing was a car crash.
With her megawatt smile, blonde hair, navy blue blazer and pencil skirt, Zacharia certainly looked the part as press secretary her second day on the job. But sources said she failed at the one thing the title demands: selling Trump.
Zacharia stumbled over her prepared remarks and stuttered through her own sentences. At one point she called the president her husband. She blindsided the room by telling the Daily Mail that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as ambassador to Greece, took three questions and walked out after 14 minutes.
Perhaps even worse for Trump, some sources said that it appeared Zacharia had been set up to fail by senior members of Trump’s team.
More than half a dozen Trump officials told the Daily Mail they suspect Zacharia was sent into the briefing room with no preparation at all.
She looked the part with her megawatt smile, blonde hair, navy blue blazer and pencil skirt. But sources said she failed at the one thing the job demands: selling Trump
Susie Wiles is flanked by Zacharia (right) and Natalie Harp (left) as they depart from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland
‘She looked as if she was handed a sheet of paper at the last minute and wasn’t prepared properly,’ a Trump world source said. ‘So who in the building wanted to see her fail?’
The Daily Mail previously reported that Trump hired Zacharia on the spur of the moment without consulting Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or any vetting. The rift from that decision is now spilling onto the podium.
‘Her hiring and the briefing shows this White House is collapsing now that they’re facing real pressure,’ a senior Trump administration official told the Daily Mail.
‘They have no idea who to hire. We’re entering wartime and they’re completely unequipped.’
Officially, the White House press shop is calling the performance ‘commanding.’
Trump himself, asked by reporters later in the day, offered a six-word verdict: ‘I thought she was very good.’
By early Tuesday afternoon, Zacharia was aboard Air Force One, bound for Alaska on her first official trip with the president.
Back in Washington, people Zacharia will have to work with daily were plunging blades into her back, firing off messages to reporters that were far harsher.
‘She should have gone on longer and had substantive answers ready,’ the senior official said. ‘She could barely read.’
Zacharia spoke with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Tuesday
Others made the obvious comparison to her predecessor Karoline Leavitt, the 29-year-old whose shock departure ahead of the midterms is keenly felt by Trump. He consulted Leavitt on Zacharia before she was hired.
Democrats piled on, with David Litt, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, telling the Daily Mail: ‘If the White House’s goal is to make Karoline Leavitt look talented by comparison, then Katie Zacharia did an excellent job.’
But the comparison also cuts both ways, with another Trump world communications source arguing that Zacharia is being judged against an impossible yardstick, as Leavitt is widely judged to be the best press secretary in a decade.
‘Look, Katie has never done that before, and I think it’s insane for the press shop to just throw someone to the wolves like that,’ a White House insider said. ‘But it always gets better.’
While Leavitt had the benefit of learning the game while by Trump’s side during his presidential campaign, the same cannot be said for Zacharia, according to the source.
Zacharia’s path to the podium was as abrupt as her exit from it.
Trump plucked her off television after months of watching her defend him on Fox News and Newsmax, making the offer himself in an out-of-the-blue phone call. Three days later, her hiring was announced on Truth Social without running it past Wiles.
So little vetting was done that the president did not know Corey Lewandowski, the Kristi Noem adviser ousted in March, had handpicked Zacharia for the job as a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Daily Mail previously reported. She lasted six weeks at DHS before walking out in March.
‘She’s running the show now so somebody had better start prepping her,’ the insider said, calling mother-of-four Zacharia ‘moldable and willing to grow.’
One former Biden administration official gave Zacharia credit, telling the Daily Mail the podium ‘is a contact sport and it’s live’ and that she deserved credit for the courage to get out there so early.
Karoline Leavitt poses with her press shop colleagues in her final days back in August
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia joined Donald Trump as he departed on the South Lawn of the White House for Alaska on Tuesday
Sean Spicer, Trump’s first-term press secretary and the last man to hold the job, also came to Zacharia’s defense.
‘Serving as press secretary is one of the most demanding and intense positions bar none,’ Spicer told the Daily Mail.
‘I practiced for my first briefing for weeks and still had a tough first outing. Katie jumped into the briefing room after 24 hours on the job and held her own.’
For all the opinions flying around Trump’s orbit, an insider noted, only one counts: that of the man who put her behind the podium.
Where he lands decides how long she lasts. Trump famously axed Anthony Scaramucci just ten days into his stint as White House communications director in 2017.
‘Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,’ White House spokesperson Steven Cheung told the Daily Mail when reached for comment.
‘She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary.’
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