Trump opens door to Katie Zacharia leaving as press secretary

By Stefan Becket Managing Editor, Digital Politics Stefan Becket is a managing editor of politics for CBSNews.com. Stefan has covered national politics for more than a decade and helps oversee a team covering the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, immigration and federal law enforcement. Read Full Bio Updated on: October 16, 2026 / 1:43 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Washington — President Trump signaled on Friday that Katie Zacharia, his new White House press secretary, might not be in the role for long, saying he told her he would "reconsider" taking the job if he were in her shoes."They've been so nasty to her," Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to the press. "I said, to her, 'Honestly if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it. But I would reconsider. You got a beautiful husband and family.' I met the family yesterday. Beautiful kids. It's like from a picture postcard. I said, 'You should reconsider. Because you don't want to go through this.'"The comments come one week to the day since Mr. Trump announced Zacharia as his pick to replace Karoline Leavitt, who stepped aside in August. Zacharia's qualifications and background quickly came under scrutiny as questions arose over her resumé. CBS News and other outlets reported that Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer over the years. She graduated from Pepperdine Law School but failed the California bar exam in 2011, a fact she acknowledged on Thursday. She told the New York Times that the president of Pepperdine University advised her at one point that she could call herself a "lawyer" but not an "attorney."Zacharia told conservative commentator Jack Posobiec that she never described herself as an "attorney at law," and said there's a "lot of misinformation around the fact that I labeled myself a lawyer.""I was very careful how I executed this. I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law," Zacharia said. This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Kathryn Watson contributed to this report. Katie Zacharia draws criticism after press secretary debut 05:19 Katie Zacharia draws criticism after press secretary debut (05:19)