Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary, less than one week into assuming the key role. Her appointment had come months after Karoline Leavitt, a long time adviser of US President Donald Trump, left the post in August.
A report has now revealed the moment she was called in for a chat with US Vice President JD Vance and subsequently told she is being let go.
Zacharia was seated for an interview with the publication when she was interrupted by Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, according to Wall Street Journal. “JD wanted to chat with us real quick,” Miller said referring to the vice president, WSJ said in a report. She never returned to continue the interview or her job as Trump’s press secretary, the publication further said. It was not clear in the report what Miller told Zacharia or what conversation did she have with the vice president. “I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me,” she said in a rocky Fox News interview by Sean Hannity, who is known to be friendly with Trump. Reports of Katie Zacharia “transitioning out” of her press secretary role emerged on Friday. Trump had made it clear he was ready to see the spokesperson go amid criticism over her professional background and much-mocked first press briefing, according to AFP. “I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?,'” Trump told reporters. “I said, ‘Katie, you don’t have to do this’…I said to her, ‘Honestly if I were you I’d reconsider.'” “I remember this very distinctly, having just come from China, thinking, ‘How is China the next country on the horizon? They don’t even have proper toilets,'” she said in an interview. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning reacted to her remarks, urging Zacharia to “visit China more often.”, according to AFP.
However, according to an AP report, Zacharia had dinner with JD Vance and his family on Friday evening.
