After weeks without a permanent voice at the podium, the briefing room gets one this morning. The new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, began work Monday, and today at 9:30 a.m. ET she holds her first introductory briefing.
She takes over from Karoline Leavitt, who left the post Aug. 27 after 19 months as the first press secretary of Trump’s second term. Leavitt’s exit came after she gave birth to her second child, the Washington Post reports. Fox News has since hired her as an on-air contributor.
A briefing room that sat quiet
Fox reports the White House went weeks without a permanent press secretary at the podium. That is a long gap for a job built around daily questions.
So today’s session is about more than one woman’s debut.
Trump announced the pick Friday, Oct. 9, on Truth Social. “It is my Great Honor to have just appointed, as Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia,” he wrote, according to NBC News. He later said she starts “tomorrow, Columbus Day.”
Who is Katie Zacharia?
She is an attorney and television commentator who has appeared on Fox News, CNN and Newsmax. She was also a senior communications adviser to Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social.
Her government résumé, however, is short. She served a few months as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, then left in March, Newsweek reports. Trump has called her “a devoted fan and member of MAGA,” per NPR.
On X, Zacharia answered with a nod to her predecessor. “Following the fabulous Karoline Leavitt is a high standard, and one worth meeting.”
Here’s the thing: the press secretary’s stakes are bigger than the podium
NPR notes she steps in while Trump’s popularity sits at record lows and Republicans work to limit losses in the November midterms. The GOP’s nerves show up on the campaign trail, and the White House press secretary is the daily face of that fight. So every answer, and every dodge, will be replayed.
We got a preview on “Fox & Friends Weekend” Saturday. She promoted a Trump deal with Russia to supply more than 1.8 million tons of diesel fuel to U.S. and global markets. She also leaned on kitchen-table issues. “President Trump has heard people have been frustrated with the gas prices,” she said. “People are frustrated with the increasing grocery prices. And he is delivering what he always does, which are solutions.”
Expect reporters to press on exactly that: whether the diesel deal moves pump prices, and what the White House says about grocery bills.
Seventh woman in a row
WIBC reports she will be the seventh consecutive woman to hold the job. Trump had four press secretaries in his first term: Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany. Turnover at this podium is practically a tradition, and every new White House spokesperson inherits that history.
Spicer is already offering a review. “Anyone who has not met her yet will quickly see that she is a genuinely kind person who will work well with the press corps,” he said, per Fox’s report. Praise from a former podium veteran is nice. Questions from a packed room are the real exam.
What to watch at the next White House briefing
Treat today as an introduction, not a verdict. Nothing about the briefing has happened yet, so how it goes is still unknown. The tone matters more than any single answer: does she take hard questions, name the issues reporters raise, and show up again tomorrow?
Leavitt set a high bar. Now comes the part no Truth Social post can do for her: standing alone at the lectern and taking the questions.
The first one arrives at 9:30 a.m. ET.
