Katie Zacharia ends her first appearance as Donald Trump's new spokeswoman after a few minutes

Katie Zacharia ended her first press conference after just a few minutes. Unlike usual, the new White House spokeswoman only allowed three questioners after a minute-long explanation before cutting off the question and answer session with reference to President Trump's trip to Alaska. The first thing Zacharia did was answer a question from the right-wing online media Breitbart.

Under her predecessor Karoline Leavitt, it was common for dozens of journalists to be able to ask questions, and press conferences often lasted well over an hour. After several media companies were banned from the White House, associations and editorial teams repeatedly accused the Trump administration of restricting press freedom.

Zacharia seemed nervous at times during her first appearance as speaker; she largely read off her opening statement. She kept getting confused and, when asked about her family, at one point spoke of “my president” instead of “my husband.” "That's a good one," she joked afterwards about the slip of the tongue.

Trump officially appointed Zachariah as the new White House spokeswoman a few days ago. The former television commentator succeeds Karoline Leavitt, who resigned from her position at the end of August.

“She has to improve significantly quickly, otherwise she will break Scaramucci’s record.”

Zacharias is considered arch-conservative and loyal to Trump. In the past she has repeatedly shown a closeness to conspiracy theories. In September 2022, she spread the false claim that Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager, John Podesta, was a pedophile. During the 2016 presidential election campaign, it was rumored under the slogan "Pizzagate" that Clinton and Podesta ran a child pornography ring out of a pizzeria.

As several US media reported, citing Zacharia's deleted posts, she also shared a conspiracy narrative surrounding former First Lady Michelle Obama and American comedian Joan Rivers. “Remember when Joan Rivers claimed Obama was gay and Michelle had a penis and then suddenly died?” was the post Zacharia shared. The fact that Michelle Obama is a man is a widespread false claim in right-wing circles in the USA.

An unnamed government official told MSNBC journalist Jake Traylor after the news conference that Zacharia was off to a bad start. "She has to improve significantly quickly, otherwise she will break Scaramucci's record." During Trump's first term in office, ex-Wall Street banker Anthony Scaramucci was fired as communications director after ten days.