{"id":376715,"date":"2026-10-19T10:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376715\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T10:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:04:35","slug":"katie-zacharia-pushed-for-disastrous-fox-news-interviews-that-led-to-her-ouster-as-press-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376715\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Zacharia pushed for disastrous Fox News interviews that led to her ouster as press secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katie Zacharia<\/a> lined up a pair of disastrous Fox News media appearances that ultimately led to her own downfall as White House press secretary, text messages obtained by The Post reveal.<\/p>\n

The texts show Zacharia \u2014 who stepped down Friday<\/a> after just five days in the job President Trump hired her for \u2014 pushing for two media appearances that were ultimately scheduled for Thursday and Friday, following her rocky debut at the White House podium.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to do news hits morning and evening,\u201d Zacharia wrote Wednesday in a text message with a White House official about the bookings, which were postponed for a day.<\/p>\n

Text messages obtained by the Post reveal White House press secretary Katie Zacharia seeking to set up her own TV appearances with Fox News. Her unsteady performance on air helped lead to her resignation by the end of the week. MediaPunch \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

During the bumpy interviews with Fox host Sean Hannity on Thursday night and \u201cFox & Friends\u201d Friday morning, the Trump mouthpiece awkwardly tried to explain her failure to pass the California bar <\/a>and struggled to go beyond talking points on other issues.<\/p>\n

The appearances were so unsteady that one source in a Politico story termed it a \u201csanctioned hit\u201d \u2014 suggesting it was orchestrated by Trump\u2019s White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who did not sign off on the high-profile hiring in advance.<\/p>\n

However, text messages indicate that Zacharia was leading the charge to get herself more camera time \u2014 and do not show that Wiles had a role in the TV hits.<\/p>\n

By Friday, President Trump said publicly Zacharia wasn\u2019t right for the role, advising that \u201cyou don\u2019t need this\u201d before she suddenly ended what may have been the shortest tenure of any White House press secretary.<\/p>\n

The texts, which also show consultations with Fox over an interview during a post-rally media appearance, indicate Zacharia was pursuing TV exposure as early as Tuesday \u2014 the day of her first briefing. <\/p>\n

Zacharia appeared on Sean Hannity\u2019s prime-time Fox News show as well as on \u201cFox & Friends,\u201d where she was asked to explain her statements about her profession after failing to pass the California bar. REUTERS<\/p>\n

A Hannity producer wrote Tuesday, \u201cKatie said she can join us from the rally tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Zacharia\u2019s comments to Hannity on Thursday had the host wondering if she blamed the West Wing for her early stumbles. <\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the fact that I\u2019d been on the job less than maybe eight hours and had a briefing book in the morning, I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day,\u201d\u00a0she told Hannity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I hearing that you think the staff should have prepped you better?\u201d Hannity asked.<\/p>\n

A White House official said Zacharia, who gushed about the president<\/a> online Friday after leaving her post, \u201cwill not be working at the White House anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another White House official said they had not heard anything about what her new role could be.<\/p>\n

Politico noted that Wiles and Hannity are friendly and speak often \u2014 but the White House said claims Wiles was involved in Zacharia\u2019s downfall were \u201chit jobs\u201d and \u201csmear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The text messages show Zacharia seeking her own TV bookings following a report that characterized them as a \u201csanctioned hit\u201d by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zacharia, who as The Post reported, dined with Vice President JD Vance Friday night, was nonspecific when asked Saturday what role she would transition into next.<\/p>\n

Former White House press secretary and Fox News commentator Kayleigh McEnany weighed in with her own take on Zacharia\u2019s baptism-by-fire on Fox Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to give grace to anyone who takes on that role \u2026 How is she doing this 24 hours in? I had about two weeks to prepare and to get thoughts together and to talk to various cabinet administration officials,\u201d she said Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was pretty much doomed from the start to roll out to the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said Friday at the White House there was \u201czero chance\u201d of replacing Wiles<\/a> and that she was \u201cgoing to be here for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie Zacharia lined up a pair of disastrous Fox News media appearances that ultimately led to her own…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,68,3870,137739,1208,9,11,10,87,68755,58,5561],"class_list":["post-376715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-donald-trump","tag-exclusive","tag-fox-news","tag-katie-zacharia","tag-media","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-sean-hannity","tag-us-news","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}