Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Katie Zacharia was in the middle of an interview with The Wall Street Journal when a senior White House adviser knocked on her office door and told her that US Vice President JD Vance wanted to speak with her. She left the interview and never returned, either to the conversation or to her job as White House press secretary, the Journal reported.
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According to media reports, Zacharia, 41, was discussing her plans for the role at her West Wing desk shortly before 1 pm when President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller interrupted. “JD wanted to chat with us real quick,” Miller told her. The account was also shared on X by WSJ journalist Philip Melanchthon Wegmann.
As Zacharia was called away, Trump was speaking to reporters while leaving for Georgia about a conversation he had had with her earlier that day. “I said, ‘Is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,’” Trump said, adding that he had advised her to reconsider taking the job.
Zacharia was fired just five days into her tenure, following a difficult first appearance at the White House briefing room podium. She had relied heavily on a script, answered just three questions from friendly media outlets and spoke for about 14 minutes.
Hours after her dismissal on Friday, Zacharia told the Journal that she had tried to make the briefing happen despite having little time to prepare.
“I did everything in my power to effectuate a briefing in the limited time and information I had,” she said. “My goal was to serve President Trump and the American people to the best of my ability.”
A HECTIC WEEK BEFORE THE EXIT
Zacharia told the Journal that she had less than 24 hours to prepare for her first briefing on Tuesday and received background information only on the morning of the event. She said this was why she had read from notes, adding that she did not blame the White House for putting her before reporters so soon.
“The truth is that I have a hard time saying ‘no’ because I want to be a team player,” she said.
Her brief tenure had also drawn scrutiny over her legal credentials. During an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, host Sean Hannity asked her about claims that she had never passed the bar exam, despite Trump having described her as an attorney.
The Journal reported that Zacharia had appeared to be looking ahead to her future in the role when they spoke on Friday. She said she had no plans to change the press office staff and wanted to keep the team together.
“There are no staffing changes that are happening,” she said. “I’m trying to keep everyone cohesive.”
The California mother of four had also described running on little sleep after celebrating her son’s birthday late Thursday before appearing on Fox & Friends the following morning.
She never got the chance to carry out the plans she had outlined for the press office.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
