Katie Zacharia leaving her White House role less than five days on the job

What the report says

Katie Zacharia is leaving her role as White House press secretary after less than five days on the job, the BBC reported, following a turbulent debut that drew sustained scrutiny over her preparation and professional background. The departure came soon after President Donald Trump suggested she should reconsider staying in the post and said she did not need to continue if she did not want to.

According to the BBC, Zacharia’s first White House briefing on Tuesday lasted under 15 minutes and included only a small number of questions. She appeared to struggle at times during the appearance, which prompted criticism from reporters and questions about how ready she was for the position. The article says she then spent the next several days defending her record and answering inquiries about her credentials.

A major focus of the controversy was her legal background. After being described by Trump and others as an attorney, Zacharia was asked where she had passed the bar exam. The BBC reported that she later acknowledged she had not passed a bar exam, while saying she had worked in international transaction law in China with appropriate credentials. Her comments and the brief tenure quickly became a political talking point.

The BBC noted that Democrats used the abrupt exit to attack the White House as the country moves toward the November midterm elections. The departure is unusually quick even by recent White House staffing standards, and the report compared it with other short-lived communications roles in Trump’s first term.