Trump’s New Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, Lands Big Headline in First Appearance

An understandably nervous Katie Zacharia, who took the job of White House press secretary just 24 hours earlier, held her first briefing with the media on Tuesday. Ms. Zacharia spent seven minutes touting her new boss’s accomplishments (with a jab at Joe Biden to boot), making news with a surprise announcement, and taking just three questions — all from conservative media — before wrapping in just 14 minutes.Fresh from hair and makeup, she appeared at the press podium in a navy jacket with brass buttons, a matching pencil skirt, and a white silk blouse with a low cutout. The 42-year-old mother of four spoke haltingly during her opening statement, reading from papers.She described President Trump as “his own best spokesperson,” said he has delivered on “every promise,” and declared him “the most family-friendly president we’ve ever had.” Later, when talking about juggling the job with motherhood, she made a small slip of the tongue, saying, “So my president — excuse me, my husband — that’s a good one.” The White House had armed Ms. Zacharia with news to break: She said the administration had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece and Donald Trump Jr.’s former fiancée, to resign amid a growing financial scandal. The ambassador complied with that request just a couple hours later.The hosts on Fox News, two of whom have served as White House press secretary — Dana Perino and Kayleigh McEneny — gave the new spokesman glowing reviews.“That’s huge news,” Ms. McEneney said of the Guilfoyle announcement. “It was kind of the mic drop moment. That’s why you heard that clamoring from the press as she walked off”A panelist on the Fox show, Melissa DeRosa, a Democratic strategist, agreed. “I thought that she presented well. She didn’t come off as combative like we’ve seen some of President Trump’s prior press secretaries, present company excluded. And she did at first. I worried for her because what you don’t want coming out of this is a process story. You don’t want to come out and be the story,” Ms. DeRosa said.“You don’t want them to dissect every pause, every, like, ‘Should you have said this differently?’ And she came out loaded with news, and then she dropped the mic and walked away. And so I think, from a strategic perspective, that was a really smart move,” Ms. DeRosa said. While Ms. Zacharia spent more than half the briefing reading prepared remarks, she took questions from Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail. She framed her new role as an extension of her prior work as a conservative commentator, saying she hopes to “only build on, only amplify, and only multiply, to the extent possible, all of the wins” Mr. Trump has delivered. “My goal is to be able to communicate that in complete tandem with the president, as he is his own best spokesperson, and will absolutely be leading the way with that,” she said.Mr. Trump, for his part, gave a brief review of her performance as he prepared to board Marine One. “I thought she was very good,” he said. However, some were less kind.The liberal “New Republic” featured this takedown: “The newly appointed press secretary spoke slowly and awkwardly during her debut press conference Tuesday, as if she had never seen or uttered the words in front of her prior to taking the podium. Her cadence was clunky, closer to that of a fourth grader reading school announcements over an intercom than a polished political communications professional.”On MS NOW’s “Money, Power, Politics,” Stephanie Ruhle read what she claimed was a statement that reporter Jake Traylor had got from a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better, fast,” the official said, according to Ms. Ruhle.But other X posters noted that she simply had a case of first-day jitters — as anyone would. “She’s prob nervous. Give her a break. I know the feeling,” one poster wrote.

Trump’s New Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, Lands Big Headline in First Appearance

Trump’s New Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, Lands Big Headline in First Appearance

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