White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is out after less than a week on the job, following mounting scrutiny of her professional credentials, criticism of her first press briefing and reported tensions within the White House press operation.
“The news has been so nasty to her. I’ve never seen anything like it actually,” Trump told reporters Friday.
He said he had encouraged Zacharia to consider whether the position was worth the personal toll.
“And I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider.'”
Trump said he wanted Zacharia to be happy and suggested that the pressure surrounding her appointment had become excessive.
The president announced Zacharia’s appointment Oct. 9, selecting the conservative commentator to succeed Karoline Leavitt.
But within days, Zacharia found herself confronting questions about her legal background and criticism of her performance before the White House press corps.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Zacharia acknowledged that she had failed the bar exam and had not attempted it again, explaining that she had planned to move to China after graduating from law school.
Her departure leaves the Trump administration facing another transition in the White House briefing room, a position that requires managing relations with an often adversarial press corps while speaking on behalf of the president.
The White House had not announced a replacement at the time of the initial departure reports.
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