Washington Secrets: Katie Zacharia’s first briefing was a nervy smash-and-grab raid

WASHINGTON SECRETS

BY ROB CRILLY

Welcome to Tuesday’s Washington Secrets. If a friend sent you this and you’d like to sign up, CLICK HERE. We were in the room (a rather colorful room) for Katie Zacharia’s first briefing as White House press secretary. It was short and sweet. But she already has eyes on setting the record for longest press secretary tenure under Trump. She’ll have to learn Secrets’ rules of press secretarying…

It probably made sense in the strategy meeting. A new press secretary had only been in the job for 24 hours before being sent out for her first briefing, so keep it short, drop a news bombshell and get out before anything can go wrong.

But when Katie Zacharia ended her briefing after just 14 minutes — opening remarks of eight minutes, followed by six minutes of questions from just three reporters — the result was uproar.

“Has the president spoken to Kimberly Guilfoyle?” shouted one reporter, moments after Zacharia announced the ambassador to Greece had been asked to resign after a string of damaging headlines.

“Is she going to resign?” shouted another.

The door behind her had slid open, offering safe passage to her office, but Zacharia lingered. She had not yet learned the first lesson of press secretarying: When you say it’s over, it’s over.

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia walks out to speak with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

She explained that the president himself would be ready to field questions in just a few moments as he boarded Marine One for Alaska, and that they would all be back from their trip on Thursday.

And with that she was gone. Her smash-and-grab raid was completed, leaving bewilderment among the assembled ranks of the White House press corps.

“Who’s her replacement going to be?” wondered one old hand.

It had been a nervous performance from the newest face in the room.

Zacharia was announced as Karoline Leavitt’s replacement on Friday. She started her job at 7 a.m. Monday, a federal holiday.

And then she was thrown before the baying lions, sorry, journalists, of the briefing room at the unusually early time of 9:40 a.m.

It is one thing to punch your weight looking at a Fox News camera. It is another thing to do it in front of almost 100 people who want to make you look stupid.

Zacharia worked through her opening remarks steadily, thanking the president.

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

“I have wanted to work for him for a very long time,” she said. “I’m looking forward to working with each of you as well.”

Perhaps the first line for the fact-checkers to get into.

Then she hit all her marks, listing the president’s achievements in a midterm-friendly list: purchasing power up, inward investment in the trillions of dollars, tariffs and border security choking off fentanyl imports, energy dominance and jobs growing, fraud under scrutiny.

Zacharia began slowly, her nerves showing as she worked through the list, but grew in confidence as she delivered the bullet points.

And she spoke to the reporters in the room, not to the main camera at the back, another thing she will learn.

It brought a rave review from her direct boss.

“A tremendous start for the new White House press secretary,” posted Steven Cheung, White House director of communications. “She commanded the room and effectively reminded the American people of all the great work President Trump and his Administration has done thus far.”

For her questions, Zacharia turned to friendly faces: Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail, which asked whether her predecessor had offered advice on the job and how to balance it with family life.

She answered with a slip, as she explained how her husband had brought her four children over from California for the week, as a prelude to moving here full time.

“So my president, or excuse me, my husband,” she said, perhaps giving away more than she wanted about how she viewed the job. “That’s a good one.”

Leavitt had been nothing but supportive, Zacharia added.

“She gave me great and wonderful feedback on how to balance. I think this job is not one you necessarily balance …” she said of her predecessor, before explaining that she had managed to include her kids on visits to Fox News studios and would find ways to work it out in the new role.

If Zacharia was a little hesitant in her first appearance, then reporters were rusty too. Leavitt gave her final briefing at the end of August.

“It’s been a moment,” said one reporter as she hunted for her seat on the front row. “I’m hoping this is the right one.”

There was a last-minute switcheroo as a TV reporter realized he was sitting in the wrong place.

But others came prepared for a new press secretary who had yet to put names to faces.

Six people wore green jackets, three turned up in red suits, four wore pink blazers, and two reporters were dressed in orange, including a male journalist. It would have been an easy way to catch Zacharia’s eye.

Just one problem. They had reckoned without a press secretary intent on keeping it brief.

But therein lies the second rule of press secretarying: There’s not much point in holding a briefing just before the president goes in front of the cameras.

You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at secrets@washingtonexaminer.com with your comments, story tips, and suggestions.

Office politics

The job of press secretary comes with some of the most coveted space in the West Wing, a roomy office with a fireplace and space for couches as well as a desk.

Or at least it used to.

Secrets hears thatCheung has taken over the room since Leavitt departed. And even she was only a temporary occupant, moving in only when Taylor Budowich stepped down as White House deputy chief of staff a year ago.

It means Zacharia is working out of one of the smaller offices in the “upper press” on the first floor of the West Wing. It still has a view of the north drive, but there’s no crackling fire in the winter months.

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