Katie Zacharia, President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, held her first press briefing Tuesday, one day after officially starting the job, and it lasted less than 15 minutes in total. The session was one of the shortest White House press briefings in recent history.
Zacharia, a conservative commentator, stuck close to prepared remarks and called on just three reporters. Roughly half the briefing was an opening statement in which she read out Trump’s achievements. CNN reported that she called on Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail, and that the briefing allowed only five and a half minutes of questions.
Zacharia announced that Kimberly Guilfoyle, the United States ambassador to Greece, has been asked to resign after severe criticism over allegations of improper and possibly illegal conduct.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle had used her post to promote deals with a Greek energy company and traveled with one of its lobbyists. Guilfoyle’s lawyers and the company denied the allegations.
A source told CNN that Trump and Zacharia met briefly before the briefing, and he told her he was seeking Guilfoyle’s resignation.
Zacharia told reporters she had wanted to work for Trump “for a very long time.” She had been a communications adviser to the media company that Trump owns and operates for his social media site. She said her role inside the administration would be no different from her advocacy for Trump outside it.
Reporters in the room laughed in surprise at the sudden end of the briefing, as her predecessors Leavitt’s briefings averaged about 45 minutes.
The reaction inside the White House was mixed. Trump said he thought she did a “very good” job. But several officials questioned how long she would last, saying the performance is unlikely to satisfy him.
Zacharia takes the podium in the final weeks before the midterm elections, as Trump travels on a series of campaign trips to shore up his base.
