New White House press secretary faces early scrutiny

Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary serving as Donald Trump's chief spokesperson, was asked on Friday, her fifth day in the job, if she still has the president's confidence. "I'm standing here," she replied during an appearance on Fox News. The Guardian

The question followed scrutiny, including from Fox News, over her debut in the briefing room and over her legal credentials. Zacharia replaces Karoline Leavitt, who left the role in August. She is a former conservative commentator who previously served as an adviser to Trump Media Group, which owns Truth Social, and had a brief stint as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.

Her first White House press briefing took place on Tuesday and lasted 14 minutes, during which she read directly from notes and occasionally stumbled over words. She took questions from only three outlets, including the Daily Mail, which she described as "not known to be a conservative outlet". Interviewed by Sean Hannity on Thursday evening, she was asked "What happened?" and "How did you feel it went personally?" She said she had little time to prepare between accepting the job and holding the briefing, and said she would be "very well prepared on the briefing" going forward and "would love, and do love, questions". The Guardian

Zacharia describes herself as a lawyer and has admitted she did not pass the bar exam. Trump had identified her as an "attorney" when announcing her appointment. She said social media posts identifying her as an "attorney" "were retweets", and said she identified herself as a "lawyer" rather than an "attorney" to distinguish herself from a licensed legal adviser.

On Friday morning, Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones asked whether she wished she had disclosed not passing the bar to the president. She said questions about the bar "weren't asked" in her interviews with the president. "I'm being hired as White House press secretary, not White House counsel," she said.