WASHINGTON — President Trump personally prepared his new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia for her first press briefing Tuesday after he urged her to immediately appear before journalists following a breakneck hiring process.
Trump brought Zacharia into the Oval Office just before the 9:30 a.m. briefing, making her slightly late, and requested that she use intense interest in her debut to detail his accomplishments and announce his decision to demand the resignation of US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, a source told The Post.
In accordance with Trump’s instructions, Zacharia kicked off her initial briefing with eight minutes praising the “energetic president,” claiming “attendance is at record highs” at his rallies and rattling off positive data on wage gains, drug prices, jobs and energy production.
That left about six minutes for questions — with Zacharia calling on reporters from Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail. She broke the news that Trump demanded Guilfoyle’s resignation before leaving the spotlight.
A photo of her notes revealed the three reporters had been pre-selected.
Her ephemeral appearance followed a similarly speedy ascent — with Trump telling aides early last week that someone had “floated” Zacharia’s name, prompting him to view her TV appearances and then call her in the presence of aides to see if she would consider leaving her advisory role at the company that operates Trump’s Truth Social platform.
It’s unclear who floated Zacharia for the position, though Trump had mentioned days prior to advisers a renewed interest in the search to replace Karoline Leavitt.
After an enthusiastic initial response over the phone, Zacharia called the president back Wednesday to confirm that her departure from the Trump Media & Technology Group would not cause disruption to the company.
Trump gauged Leavitt’s opinion and those of senior West Wing aides. His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was not present for Trump’s spontaneous initial phone call with Zacharia, but was informed after the conversation ended.
Zacharia showed up to the White House on Friday for a formal Oval Office interview. Wiles was unable to attend, but communications director Steven Cheung sat in on the discussion and told Wiles after Trump made an on-the-spot job offer and before it was publicly announced, three sources said.
A fourth source confirmed that Wiles did not learn of Trump’s decision to hire Zacharia from Leavitt, as one news outlet reported Monday, and said that the former press secretary had not spoken to Wiles at all during the rapid recruitment process.
Zacharia, a lawyer and conservative commentator, had a brief stint earlier this year as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, but was swept out the door just weeks into that job in a housecleaning following the ouster of Secretary Kristi Noem and her de facto chief of staff and alleged lover Corey Lewandowski.
Lewandowski told The Post in a text message that “she was recruited [as White House press secretary] because of her talent(s) and fierce loyalty to the president.” He did not respond to questions about whether he pitched her name to Trump.
Trump announced Zacharia as the successor to Leavitt on Friday, with Monday being her first official day in the job. She had just one day to prepare for a briefing and meet her new staff in person.
