Trump drops his new press secretary after a week of controversy

Katie Zacharia, appointed as White House press secretary on October 9, has resigned after just five days on the job, according to sources close to President Donald Trump. This rapid exit comes following a highly criticized first briefing and the revelation that she had falsely presented herself as a lawyer without having passed the bar exam.

A White House official confirmed Zacharia was "transitioning out" of her role. As she departed for a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump told reporters he had advised her to reconsider her position, stating, "Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. Katie, do you need this?" The president claimed she had been treated "very unfairly" by the media and that many people coveted the role.

Zacharia's brief tenure as press secretary lasted just 14 minutes during her sole briefing on Tuesday, during which she struggled to answer a question about whether the United States had ceased sharing intelligence with Ukraine. She later admitted that, despite claiming to be a lawyer for years, she had not passed the bar exam. Her time in the position is significantly shorter than the 11-day tenure of former communications director Anthony Scaramucci in 2017.