{
  "id": 14534884,
  "title": "Trump personally coached Katie Zacharia before 14-minute briefing; what happened",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/trump-personally-coached-katie-zacharia-before-14-minute-briefing",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-14T20:56:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Mint",
    "slug": "live-mint",
    "url": "https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/trump-personally-coached-katie-zacharia-before-14-minute-briefing-what-happened-11792009932137.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "US President Donald Trump personally coached new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia in the Oval Office prior to her maiden press briefing on Tuesday, instructing her to leverage the heightened attention on her debut to highlight his administration’s accomplishments and announce the resignation of US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, according to The New York Post. Trump summoned Zacharia to the Oval Office shortly before the briefing, set for 9:30 am, leading to her arrival a few minutes tardy, a source familiar with the situation told the news outlet. Alongside her appointment, Trump disclosed his decision on Guilfoyle, which Zacharia subsequently communicated to the press. Newly appointed to replace Karoline Leavitt, Zacharia had only a day to prepare for the briefing and meet her colleagues. Her 14-minute speech featured around eight minutes extolling Trump's leadership and six minutes addressing queries. She kicked off her presentation with a commendation for Trump's vigorous governance, highlighting his recent rallies, policies on energy, tariffs, and immigration, and positive statistics on wages, drug prices, employment, and energy production. Zacharia also noted that Trump's rallies were drawing record crowds. She described her mandate as an expansion of her prior advocacy for Trump, aiming to amplify and broaden his agenda. She referred to Trump as \"his own best spokesperson\" and expressed gratitude for his appointment. Zacharia selected reporters from Breitbart News, Fox News, and the Daily Mail, with their names appearing on her notes. She pledged to uphold the \"new media\" rotation initiated by Leavitt, which broadened the range of media outlets present in White House briefings. After six minutes of question-and-answer, Zacharia signaled the briefing's end, stating that reporters could direct their inquiries to Trump upon his departure via Marine One for an Alaska trip. Trump praised Zacharia's performance as he departed for his journey, more than an hour after the briefing concluded.",
  "summary": "Zacharia's first appearance at the podium lasted around 14 minutes, with approximately eight minutes devoted to praising Trump and six minutes spent answering questions.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}