Karoline Leavitt no longer takes the questions in the White House briefing room, but she has plenty to say about the successor who lasted five days there.
Leavitt, who was President Donald Trump’s press secretary from January 2025 until she stepped down in August, said the job did not suit Katie Zacharia in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital published Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. Zacharia was fired after five days in the role, the shortest run anyone has had in the post.
“The job obviously was not for her, but we wish her and her family well,” Leavitt said. She called the position a tough one that she knows firsthand, said many people rank it among the hardest jobs in politics, and noted that it demands heavy preparation — with no reliable way to know how someone will handle it until they step in front of reporters.
From ‘Loyal and Brilliant’ to Fired
Zacharia, a former Homeland Security spokesperson and Newsmax contributor, took over the podium on Oct. 12. Trump had hailed her as a “loyal and brilliant supporter” when he announced the hire. Her first briefing, the next day, ran about 14 minutes. She read from prepared remarks, accidentally called her husband “my president” and fielded questions from just three reporters.
Critics of the president and officials inside the administration both panned the performance, and within five days she was gone. Trump told reporters at a Marine One gaggle, shortly before word of her departure broke, that the media had treated her harshly and that he had urged her to reconsider taking the job in the first place.
Privately, some in the administration concede she was handed a brutal start. She flew in from California to interview with Trump, flew back home over the weekend, returned to Washington, spent the Monday federal holiday being onboarded and walked into the briefing room the following morning — essentially her first full day on the job.
She Won’t Name the Shortlist
Leavitt said she has offered to help Trump pick someone who can serve him and the country well, though she declined to share the private counsel she gives the president or to list anyone under consideration. “Nobody understands the press better than Donald Trump,” she said, adding that he knows he needs someone tough, smart, loyal, fluent in his policies and willing to fight.
Plenty of qualified people want the job, Leavitt said, leaving the final call to Trump. Her assessment did not land well with everyone. A person familiar with Zacharia’s thinking said it was unfair for a former press secretary to keep going after the president’s hand-picked successor, and described Zacharia as turning down interviews and profile pieces so coverage stays on Trump’s work.
Zacharia herself has stayed largely quiet. She told the New York Post she remains grateful for the chance to support Trump’s agenda and believes he deserves fair coverage of what he is delivering, from border security to new manufacturing and energy investment. She has returned to her California home and was photographed walking in Los Angeles in a MAGA hat on Oct. 21.
Trump weighed in again at a rally in Fort Myers, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 23, saying that when Zacharia “walked into that press room and they started screaming at her, she freaked out.” Zacharia answered the same day in a statement to Newsweek: “It was an honor to work for President Trump, and no one has been more relentlessly attacked by the media than him.”
An Empty Podium Heading Into November
No replacement has been named, and the administration is not expected to fill the job before voters go to the polls. The names circulating include White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly, CNN commentator Scott Jennings and Elizabeth Pipko, a former model who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. Jennings was widely seen as the favorite when Trump went looking for Leavitt’s replacement and reportedly campaigned privately for the post.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Trump and his team are focused on the midterm elections, and that the president will keep crisscrossing the country to take his agenda directly to voters. The podium sits empty with Election Day set for Tuesday, Nov. 3, and polls pointing to potentially major Republican losses.
Leavitt announced her own exit in August and left the job Aug. 27, saying she could not give her two young children what they deserve while meeting the round-the-clock demands of the briefing room. She has been home with her son, Niko, and her daughter, Viviana, since. At the start of November, she joins Fox News as a contributor.
