Katie Zacharia Out As Trump Press Secretary After Days on the Job

President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, is reportedly out of a job. Fox News’s Aishah Hasnie reported Friday, “A senior White House official tells @pdoocy Katie ZACHARIA is “transitioning out” of the press secretary position.”

Hasnie’s report came just minutes after Trump offered a less-than-full endorsement of his new press secretary, who has only been on the job five days and had already grabbed scathing headlines over her widely panned debut briefing.

“Would you have liked to have known that Katie Zacharia didn’t pass the bar, and how would you rate her performance?” a reporter asked Trump as he left the White House.

“Well, Katie’s been treated very badly by the media. Very, very badly. Very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it. I said,’Katie, is this for you?’ Because, you know, she’s been treated very rough, and she’s a nice person. Very nice person,” Trump replied, adding:

I’ve watched her for years on television. But I said, “Is this for you, Katie?” Because, honestly, you don’t need this. You don’t have to be treated… I would say the fake news, but just generally, the media has been very rough. She was on Sean Hannity last night, and Sean was a little bit tough. And she did… I saw Fox & Friends this morning, they were all in town. She’s been treated, I would say, pretty nastily. And I said to Katie, just two minutes ago, I said, “Katie, you know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” She said, “This is a lot tougher.” I said, “Welcome to the world of Trump.”

“Are you going to keep her?” the reporter followed up.

“I don’t know, let’s see. I’m going to let her make that decision,” Trump replied.

“Okay, so it’s up in the air, potentially?” pushed another reporter.

“It’s up, yeah. Look, she’s a nice person, a great person. And she’s been treated roughly, you know,” Trump replied, adding:

I said, “You want to really live like this?” I don’t think they’ll ever ease up. And, you know, Karoline did a very good job. I think Katie maybe would do. But Katie is off to a start… the news has been so nasty to her. I’ve never seen anything like it, actually. And I said to her, “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider.” She’s got a beautiful husband and family. I met the family yesterday. Beautiful kids. It’s like from a picture postcard. And I say, “You should reconsider, because you don’t want to go through this.”

“What do you want her to do?” asked another reporter.

“I just want her to be happy. Look, she has suffered over the last few days. I’m not saying, you know… I mean, maybe it’s not for her, but I said, ‘You want to be happy in life?’ I’ll do whatever she wants,” Trump concluded.

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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