Katie Zacharia was forced out of her role as White House press secretary on Friday after only five days on the job, a rare reversal by the White House that capped a week of upheaval.
Ms. Zacharia, a conservative commentator who had drawn President Trump’s attention, got off to a shaky start with her first and only press briefing on Tuesday. She largely read from a script and ended questioning after just five and a half minutes. The briefing was followed by a wave of headlines questioning whether she had misrepresented herself as a lawyer—Mr. Trump had called her “an attorney”—despite having failed her bar exam.
Her subsequent media interviews also went poorly. She tried to defend herself by pointing out how unprepared she had been to face the Washington press corps.
After days of unrelenting coverage, the Trump administration decided on Friday afternoon to do something it almost never does: it folded.
Mr. Trump was walking across the South Lawn to depart for a midterm rally in Georgia when he stopped to talk with reporters. He told them he had just encouraged his press secretary to “reconsider” her new job.
“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” he recalled telling her. “Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.”