Katie Zacharia is facing backlash online after her first White House press briefing as President Donald Trump’s new press secretary left viewers criticizing her performance.
The conservative commentator, who recently replaced Karoline Leavitt, stumbled through her debut in front of reporters on October 13th, with her brief appearance quickly drawing attention and sparking comparisons to her predecessor. On social media, users can’t get over her first go at her new job and still aren’t letting her live it down, slamming it as a “disaster.” Read more about her first press briefing and how the internet reacted to it below.
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Katie Zacharia Had An Awkward First White House Press Briefing After Replacing Karoline Leavitt
Katie Zacharia stepped behind the White House podium for the first time on Tuesday, October 13th, after being named Trump's new press secretary the previous week.
She previously worked as a conservative commentator and communications adviser for Trump's social media company, Truth Social, and briefly served as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. During her debut, Katie spent a lot of time reading prepared lines and praising Trump's administration before taking questions from just three news outlets.
The briefing lasted about 14 minutes, with her short Q&A session and abrupt ending leading to questions about how she would handle the demanding role. One of the more awkward moments came when she accidentally referred to Trump as her husband while discussing how she planned to balance her new job with raising her four children. She quickly corrected herself and laughed off the slip-up.
"The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable," she said. "So my president — excuse me, my husband, that's a good one — my husband is out here for the week because we have two birthdays in our family, and we are very, very protective of celebrating birthdays as a family."
Social Media Users Slam Katie's Press Briefing & Compare Her To Karoline Leavitt
The blonde press secretary has some big shoes to fill after succeeding Karoline Leavitt, who became a familiar face during her time as the president's press secretary. Her first appearance is already causing people to compare her to Karoline's more combative tone when handling reporters.
Katie's nervous delivery, limited Q&A session, and brief, fumbling debut have been fueling more backlash, with many social media users questioning whether she has the experience needed to take on the role.
"OMG, she is brutally bad at this," wrote an X user.
"Give her time; she has the potential to get even worse," responded another.
One user wrote, "This is painful to watch, yikes," with another adding, "I knew she'd be a disaster but this…this is…is like watching a car crash with no survivors."
"She's gonna sound so hilariously dumb trying to answer questions," a user wrote.
"That moment when you realize the entire world is going to see how unqualified you are for the job," commented another.
"She sounds like she's being sarcastic," commented a user.
