Accused of lying on her CV, Katie Zacharia ousted just a week after being named White House spokesperson

Barely arrived, already gone. Katie Zacharia, named White House spokesperson barely a week earlier, will no longer hold this position, White House communications director Steven Cheung confirmed to the New York Times on Friday, October 16. The 41-year-old lawyer will “take on new positions, which will be announced later”. With only five days in office, she became the most short-lived “Press Secretary” in recent history.

Earlier Friday, Donald Trump pushed Katie Zacharia out, inviting her to “reconsider” her position. “I told him: 'Honestly, if I were you, I would reconsider [the situation],” declared the American president at the White House, believing, however, that Katie Zacharia, who is accused of having lied on her CV, had been “treated very badly” by the press, although she had only spoken to conservative media so far.

"I just talked to her about it. I said, 'Katie, is this for you?'" he also said, adding that he told the spokesperson: "Honestly, you don't need this." If her departure were confirmed quickly, she would become the most short-lived “Press Secretary” to have ever worked for Donald Trump.

The spokesperson questioned at length about her diploma

The fate of Katie Zacharia, who left a very difficult impression on Tuesday during her first briefing and who is accused of having lied about her professional qualifications, already seemed sealed on Friday morning. On the Fox News channel, generally a comfortable terrain for members of the Trump administration, Katie Zacharia was questioned without concessions. Presenter Sean Hannity questioned her at length on Thursday evening about her career. “You took the bar exam but didn’t pass?” “Yes, Sean,” conceded the 41-year-old spokesperson, who had started by introducing herself as a lawyer. “I knew I was going to live in China and the bar results were of no consequence,” she argued.

Katie Zacharia then lived in Beijing, where she says she worked as a lawyer in a major Chinese law firm. She justified the fact of not having retaken the bar on her return to the United States by her maternity leave, emphasizing having had “four children in six years”. On Real America's Voice, a platform openly aligned with the ideology of the American president, Katie Zacharia had previously denounced "misinformation" and "misunderstandings" concerning her.