Katie, we hardly knew ye!
In less than half the time of the Scaramucci era, Trump’s new press secretary has been forced to fall upon her own designer sword.
While an actor on Saturday Night Live hoping for a long and successful run might be distressed, one can almost hear a sigh of relief emanating from the White House regarding the departure of Katie Zacharia, who held the position for less than a week.
Anthony Scaramucci, the previous record-holder for the shortest stint at the podium (eleven days), offered his support, writing: "Turn off the news and spend time with your family. In time, you will realize that the universe has done you a huge favor."
Perhaps he is right.
For it appears that Zacharia is departing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the metaphorical daggers of her colleagues buried deep in the back of her elegant blazer.
What, ultimately, brought about the end for Katie "I’m a lawyer!" Zacharia?
The prevailing view is that she committed the cardinal sin in Trump’s world: making the boss look bad.
Here is a look at the final, fateful hours that sealed her fate:
Things began to go awry on Tuesday morning, when Zacharia was thrust into the den of wolves that is the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. She stumbled, stammered, and with a nervous, downward-fixed gaze read directly from her script. It was as if the White House press corps like a pack of predators had caught the scent of blood in the water.
Zacharia took only three questions, seemingly in an attempt to cut the barrage short. Only one of them concerned policy.
"Has the U.S. stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine?" asked Peter Doocy, Fox News’ senior White House correspondent.
She replied that she could not answer.
Turning to Alina Shirazi of the Daily Mail, Zacharia stated that the President had demanded the resignation of the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
That was the news.
But was it also a prediction?
Just fourteen minutes later, Zacharia ended the briefing and directed the journalists toward the White House South Lawn, where the President was departing for a campaign rally in Alaska.
Things only got worse from there.
By then, the reporters had already dug into Zacharia’s background and caught the scent of a scandal.
In various television appearances and on LinkedIn, Zacharia had described herself as a lawyer even as "General Counsel." President Trump had referred to her as an "attorney."
But was she actually one?
"Where did she pass the bar exam?" a reporter asked the President. He turned to Zacharia and repeated the question.
From behind her dark sunglasses, she offered a bizarre, head-scratching response: "When I moved to China."
What did that even mean?
Even Trump himself appeared taken aback. Zacharia later told The New York Times that, amidst the noise of Marine One, she had misheard the question, thinking the reporter asked, "Where were you after law school?"
A throng of journalists subsequently verified with the bar examiners' committees in all fifty states that she had not passed the bar exam anywhere.
Worse still, she had failed the California bar exam in 2011 and never attempted it again.
A few hours after the briefing, Zacharia was spotted boarding Air Force One alongside the president’s "A-team." Walking along the runway at Joint Base Andrews with Trump aide Natalie Harp, Zacharia looked as pleased as a cat that had gotten into the cream. Perhaps Harp dubbed the "human printer" hadn't printed out the scathing critiques of her performance that were circulating online.
By then, anonymous White House sources had already begun undermining her performance.
"It looked as though the papers were handed to her at the last minute, and she wasn't properly prepared," remarked a source within Trump’s circle. "So, who in the building wanted her to fail?"
"Her appointment and this briefing show that this White House is now crumbling under real pressure," a senior Trump administration official told the Daily Mail.
The White House later denied that anyone had sabotaged her debut appearance. However, by the time Air Force One returned from its trip to Alaska, it was clear that Zacharia would have to engage in some serious damage control.
The negative press continued throughout Wednesday. On Thursday, she embarked on a media tour to save her job, starting in friendly territory sitting down with host Jack Posobiec in the studios of Real America’s Voice.
She told Posobiec that her ascent to the position of White House Press Secretary happened in a great rush. Last week, she was at a pumpkin patch in California with her son when the President called, prompting her to dash off to Washington.
"I woke up at 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday to prepare with whatever I had..." she said, adding that the material for the briefing wasn't finalized until 8:00 a.m.
She explained that briefings usually take place in the afternoon; hers was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. because the departure for Alaska was set for later that morning.
It appeared as though she was offering excuses.
She claimed that the controversy surrounding her legal credentials was merely a "misunderstanding."
She stated that she had earned a law degree from Pepperdine and had consulted with "many people in the field" asking if it was appropriate to call herself a "lawyer" while providing "legal analysis rather than legal advice" and they had confirmed that it was.
Despite the commotion, Zacharia appeared confident about her career prospects at the time; she even joked with Posobiec about who should portray her on SNL suggesting Scarlett Johansson.
Daily Mail columnist Mark Halperin reported this afternoon that White House staff were sharing anecdotes from her time in China and expressing concern regarding her lack of legal credentials.
On Thursday night, she appeared on Fox News with prime-time host Sean Hannity.
It did not go quite as she might have expected.
Hannity appeared somewhat somber as he began: "Katie, I know this is a high-profile interview for you..."
The smile on her face froze, rigid as dry concrete. Her briefing "drew widespread criticism I’m sure you’re aware..." Hannity continued. "You didn't pass the bar exam," he added.
"Well... Sean," Zacharia replied, her smile tightening further.
She explained that she failed the bar exam because she was in a rush; she had graduated from Pepperdine, gotten married that same week, and was planning to move to China so the bar exam results were "inconsequential." She had taken the test simply to avoid a record of having "withdrawn."
Hannity then confronted her with evidence: a report indicating that she had referred to herself on social media at least fifteen times as not just a "lawyer," but an "attorney."
Her frozen smile now took on the rigidity of a corpse.
"I believe those were retweets, and I set the record straight," she replied coldly. "Those were retweets related to a position that had been offered."
McEnany then repeated a familiar line: she had "stepped onto the field with very little preparation time" for the briefings. Offering a surprisingly upbeat assessment of the reaction to her performance, she described the reviews as "mixed."
"Am I hearing that you think your staff should have prepared you better?" asked Hannity sounding less like a sympathetic confidant and more like a disappointed parent.
Meanwhile, journalists were digging into her past work for a Chinese law firm, as well as her husband’s professional background, which included helping to "build teams" in North Korea.
The following day, Friday morning, McEnany tried again on Fox & Friends.
Host Lawrence Jones asked point-blank whether she had the President’s confidence.
"I’m standing here, and I was able to travel with him... through the midterm rallies; I hope to earn the confidence and trust of everyone around me," she replied.
Pushing back against the suggestion that she should have clarified her legal qualifications to the White House prior to her appointment, McEnany appeared to throw her new employer under the bus.
"Those questions weren't asked," she said. "I’m being hired as the White House Press Secretary, not as White House Counsel."
Shortly thereafter, it seems, President Trump had seen enough. In a lengthy exchange with reporters outside the White House, he remarked regarding Zacharia’s position: "Maybe it’s not for her."
He claimed that the media had been "nasty," and mentioned that he had told Zacharia just moments earlier: "I think it’s better for you to just be happy."
Soon, it became official: she would be "transitioning" out of the role.
As far as dismissals go, this one was handled with a "velvet glove" likely because, according to reports, she was Trump’s personal choice, and his alone.
The Daily Mail reported, prior to Zacharia’s first briefing, that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had no hand in her selection.
What lies ahead for Zacharia?
A source familiar with the matter told the Daily Mail that she and her family are scheduled to dine with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and his family on Friday night.
Perhaps we will see more of her around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
We wish her all the best.
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