President Trump advised Katey Zachariah to reconsider her role as press secretary following media backlash over her qualifications.
Published October 16, 2026
White House press secretary Katie Zakaria has “resigned” from her position just a week after President Donald Trump nominated her for the job, Al Jazeera has confirmed.
Fox News on Friday reported that President Trump said there was no rush to hire Zakaria’s replacement.
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Earlier Friday, President Trump told reporters he had told Zakaria to “reconsider” continuing in the role.
“I don’t think Katie should suffer the same way she’s suffered at the hands of the press,” Trump said as he left the White House. “I told her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d think twice. You’d think about it.’
Zakaria said he received a call about the role last week. She replaced Caroline Leavitt.
Trump later announced her appointment and described her as a lawyer. But questions came under fire last week about whether Zakaria, a graduate of California’s Pepperdine University School of Law, had actually passed the bar exam in order to work as a lawyer.
She said in a Fox News interview Thursday that she failed the bar exam.
Her tenure lasted five days, half of the tenure of Anthony Scaramucci, who served as communications director during Trump’s first administration for 10 days.
