Katie, do you need this? Trump told White House Press Secretary before she was fired

US President Donald Trump urged Katie Zacharia to reconsider her role before officials confirmed her exit. Her departure followed scrutiny of her legal credentials and brief media performance.US President Donald Trump on White House press secretary Katie Zacharia's exitUS President Donald Trump was already asking Katie Zacharia whether her new job was worth the trouble before the White House confirmed she was leaving it. “I said, Katie, do you need this? I don't think you need this,” Trump told reporters on Friday as he left the White House for a trip to Georgia, recounting a conversation with the press secretary whose tenure had unravelled almost as quickly as it began.Trump said he had urged Zacharia to reconsider the position after three days of intense media scrutiny, suggesting that the demands of the job might come at too high a personal cost. “I told her, I think you're better off being happy,” he said. “I want her to have a good life. I don't want her to have a life like she's led the last three days.”Hours later, White House officials confirmed to Reuters that Zacharia was being let go and transitioning out of the role. She had taken over from Karoline Leavitt less than a week earlier.Trump initially said he would speak to Zacharia again before making a final decision. But his remarks had already offered a glimpse of where things were heading. “I told her honestly, 'If I were you, I'd reconsider ... think about it. But I would reconsider,'” he said. Trump: "I told Katie that in my opinion she was treated very very unfairly by the news. Let's call it the fake news. I said, 'Katie, do you need this? I don't think you need this.' We're talking about doing something. I want her to have a good life. She's being brutalized by the media."— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2026 TRUMP SAYS ZACHARIA WAS TREATED UNFAIRLYTrump's account framed Zacharia's departure around the pressure she faced rather than her performance or the controversy over her professional background. “I think she was really treated very unfairly,” he said, adding that she had been “brutalised by the media”.He also questioned whether she could ever be happy in the role. “I'm not sure you could ever be happy in this job. There's nothing easy about this job,” he said. Asked whether he was upset that Zacharia had not disclosed that she failed the bar examination, Trump brushed aside the suggestion that it would have changed his hiring decision. “Well, I wasn't hiring her to be a lawyer. I was hiring her to be a press secretary,” he said.Q: Are you upset that Katie Zacharia didn't disclose not passing the bar? TRUMP: Well, I wasn't hiring her to be a lawyer. I would say it probably wouldn't have mattered. She's been loyal to me since day one for a long time, but it's not an easy job. https://t.co/L1OEBRmtM3— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2026Trump noted that he knew several intelligent people who had taken the bar examination multiple times and stressed that Zacharia had been loyal to him for a long time.But the controversy had become difficult to separate from her brief tenure. Zacharia had been introduced as an attorney, and questions about her legal credentials emerged almost immediately after she took office.EVEN TRUMP ALLY QUESTIONED HER CREDENTIALS CLAIMSZacharia's appearance on Fox News' Hannity on Thursday stirred more trouble for her, with even the pro-Trump host pressing her on how she had described her legal background.Zacharia had told news agency Reuters that she practised international transaction law, saying she had done so “with all the appropriate credentials”. However, Reuters could not find records showing that she was registered as an attorney or admitted to the bar in any US state or the District of Columbia.During her Fox News interview, Zacharia acknowledged that she had not passed the bar examination.Hannity questioned why she had not simply explained her circumstances instead of getting caught up in distinctions between legal terms. “Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney?” he asked.BREAKING: FOX News host Sean Hannity GRILLS Katie Zacharia for lying about being a lawyer. Yes, Sean Hannity. The lies she has told is even too much for one of Trump’s biggest defenders in the media. Wow. https://t.co/a5zUczu8bI— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary Account) (@MAGALieTracker) October 16, 2026The exchange drew attention given Hannity's longstanding support for Trump. His questioning also put Zacharia's handling of the controversy under scrutiny on a network friendly to the president.Zacharia had said she received the call about the position on October 7 and was offered the job to replace Leavitt a week later. She also defended her early performance by pointing to the limited time she had to prepare.'TRUMP WAS EMBARRASSED BY BRIEFING'CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins reported that the controversy over Zacharia's credentials was only part of the problem.In a post on X, Collins said Trump was embarrassed by the coverage of Zacharia's first briefing and had sounded out other aides about her performance. According to her account, Zacharia had few allies willing to defend her.Collins said Trump had grown impatient with the time it was taking to find a replacement for Leavitt and wanted someone who could more effectively defend his administration on television. “When she failed to do so in a sufficient way with Sean Hannity, Trump said he knew she needed to go,” Collins wrote.TRUMP WANTED A STRONGER VOICE AHEAD OF MIDTERMSTrump had brought Zacharia into the role amid concerns about how his administration was being covered by the media. Two people familiar with the discussions said the president wanted a new spokesperson who could more effectively promote his administration's achievements.Her departure leaves Trump without a permanent press secretary just over two weeks before the November midterm elections, as he seeks to promote his administration's achievements and help Republicans retain control of Congress.Two people familiar with the discussions had previously told Reuters that Trump wanted a spokesperson who could more effectively communicate his administration's accomplishments amid concerns about media coverage.Speaking to Fox News by phone on Friday, Trump said he was in no hurry to appoint a successor.- EndsWith agency inputs