Katie Zacharia lasted five days as White House press secretary, and text messages obtained by The Post show she arranged the two Fox News appearances that blew up in her face — not Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as had been rumored.
“I’d like to do news hits morning and evening,” Zacharia wrote Wednesday to a White House official, pushing for bookings that were ultimately pushed back a day and landed on Thursday and Friday.
Those interviews, with Sean Hannity on Thursday night and Fox & Friends on Friday morning, did not go well. Zacharia stumbled trying to explain why she failed to pass the California bar exam and struggled to move past prepared talking points on other topics.
The appearances were rough enough that a source quoted in Politico called it a “sanctioned hit,” implying Wiles had orchestrated the bookings to undercut Zacharia after Trump hired her without Wiles’ sign-off. The texts contradict that version of events entirely — Wiles had no role in setting up the interviews, and Zacharia was chasing the camera time herself.
The push for exposure started almost immediately. A Hannity producer texted Tuesday — the day of Zacharia’s first White House briefing — “Katie said she can join us from the rally tonight.” She’d been on the job only hours.
By Thursday night, Hannity was openly asking whether Zacharia was blaming White House staff for her shaky start.
“Given the fact that I’d been on the job less than maybe eight hours and had a briefing book in the morning, I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day,” Zacharia told Hannity.
“Am I hearing that you think the staff should have prepped you better?” Hannity shot back.
President Trump said Friday that Zacharia wasn’t right for the role, telling her “you don’t need this” before she abruptly stepped down — possibly the shortest run of any White House press secretary on record.
A White House official confirmed Zacharia “will not be working at the White House anymore.” Another official said there’s no word yet on where she lands next. Zacharia posted glowing remarks about the president online after her exit and dined with Vice President JD Vance that Friday night. Asked Saturday what she’d do next, she gave no specifics.
Politico noted that Wiles and Hannity are friendly and talk regularly, fueling the “sanctioned hit” theory. The White House rejected that framing outright, calling claims that Wiles engineered Zacharia’s downfall “hit jobs” and a “smear.”
Former press secretary and current Fox commentator Kayleigh McEnany offered a more sympathetic read Saturday morning.
“You want to give grace to anyone who takes on that role … How is she doing this 24-hours in? I had about two weeks to prepare and to get thoughts together and to talk to various cabinet administration officials,” McEnany said. “That was pretty much doomed from the start to roll out to the press.”
Trump also moved Friday to shut down any speculation about Wiles’ own standing, saying there was “zero chance” of replacing her and that she was “going to be here for a long time.”
