# Trump Fires Press Secretary Katie Zacharia After Five Days, the Shortest Tenure on Record

> Katie Zacharia was dismissed as White House press secretary just five days into the job, after a rocky debut briefing and scrutiny over her long standing claim to be a lawyer despite not passing the California bar exam.

- Source: American Post News
- Canonical URL: https://americanpostnews.net/article/trump-fires-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-after-five-days-the-shortest-tenure-on-record
- Author: staff
- Section: Politics
- Published: 2026-10-16T22:35:12.319Z
- Updated: 2026-10-16T22:35:12.319Z
- Tags: White House, Press Secretary, Trump Administration

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President Trump called Katie Zacharia about the White House press secretary job on October 7 and announced her appointment two days later, succeeding Karoline Leavitt, who had left the role at the end of August. By October 16, Trump had fired her, ending a tenure of just five days, the shortest of any White House press secretary on record and shorter than Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days as communications director in 2017.

Zacharia held only one press briefing during her time in the job, a roughly 14 minute appearance in which she took three questions from reporters. According to Fortune, her briefing materials were not finalized until the morning of the briefing itself, leaving her with little preparation time before facing the press corps.

The controversy that followed centered on her legal credentials. Zacharia had long described herself as a lawyer, but a senior administration official confirmed she did not pass the California bar exam after finishing law school. Asked about the discrepancy, she reportedly called the issue "somewhat inconsequential," citing plans to live in China.

Her exit drew public commentary from Scaramucci, whose own brief run in the Trump White House had stood as a benchmark for short tenures until Zacharia's. Fox News host Sean Hannity had interviewed Zacharia during her short time in the role.

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Originally published by American Post News. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://americanpostnews.net/article/trump-fires-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-after-five-days-the-shortest-tenure-on-record.