Katie Zacharia out as White House press secretary after five days

Katie Zacharia has left the job of White House press secretary after five days, two senior administration officials, an administration official and a source familiar with the decision told NBC News on Friday 16 October (US time).

A senior administration official said Zacharia was moving into a new role that would be announced later, NBC News reported. In a statement on Friday evening, Zacharia said “it was an honor to work for him”, referring to President Donald Trump.

Earlier on Friday, Trump said Zacharia had been treated “pretty nastily” by the media and that he had told her: “Katie, you know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want.” Asked whether he would keep her, he said: “I’m going to let her make that decision.”

Zacharia’s first briefing, on Tuesday 13 October, lasted less than 15 minutes, NBC News reported. That week she acknowledged that she had not passed a bar exam after law school, despite having described herself as a lawyer; a senior administration official confirmed she had not passed the California bar exam, which The Wall Street Journal first reported. The watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California asking it to investigate.

Zacharia, a former conservative commentator and communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who left the post at the end of August. Two sources told NBC News it was highly unlikely Trump would name a new press secretary soon. The US midterm elections are on 3 November.