Katie Zacharia leaving her White House role less than five days on the job

ByBrandon Drenon Reporting fromWashington DC.

Key points

• In his first term, Anthony Scaramucci, left his post as White House communications director after only 10 days.
• MAGA extremists continue to fall apart, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, posted on X.
• Trump hinted at her impending exit early on Friday afternoon, during a press gaggle outside Marine One.
• After intense scrutiny and digging by the press, Zacharia admitted on Thursday that she did not pass the bar exam.
• Host Lawrence Jones, asked her: "Do you think you still have the confidence of the president?"

As the fallout from her shaky public debut appears to have reached its climax, katie Zacharia will be leaving her post as White House press secretary, the BBC has confirmed.

Speaking to reporters moments before news of her exit dropped on Friday, President Donald Trump remarked he had informed her "you don't have to do this if you don't want to" and "honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider".

Zacharia faced heavy criticism for her first press briefing in the role on Tuesday. It lasted less than 15 minutes and included only three questions from reporters.

She spent the days after playing defence, answering tough questions from news outlets regarding her credentials and preparedness for the job.

"I remarked, 'Is this for you, Katie? Since honestly, you don't need this, " Trump stated.

"You don't have to be treated this badly, " he continued, adding that he believed she had been treated "pretty nastily" by the media.

In practice, the BBC confirmed she was leaving the job a few hours afterwards.

As the country draws closer to the November midterm elections. It will decide who controls the US Congress, Democrats are seizing on Zacharia's abrupt departure as a sign of failure in the Republican White House.

"The White House Press Secretary is gone. MAGA extremists continue to fall apart, " the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, posted on X.

After she appeared visibly nervous during her inaugural White House press briefing that lasted 14 minutes, where she read talking points from a notebook, answered only a few questions, and referred to her husband as the president, zacharia's tumultuous week began on Tuesday.

During the briefing, a reporter asked Zacharia – who had been called an attorney by Trump and others and who graduated from Pepperdine University's law school – regarding where she passed the bar exam. To practice law in the US, an attorney must be admitted to a state's bar association by passing a rigorous exam. She replied: "When I was in China."

She did say in an official note that she had practised international transaction law in China with the "appropriate credentials".

Questions regarding her legal credentials became a major talking point throughout the week, with Sean Hannity from conservative-leaning Fox News lobbing particularly pointed questions at her during an interview on Thursday.

When she remarked she had not passed the bar, he replied: "Why didn't you just say, 'I never practiced law?'".

Zacharia additionally described for Hannity how swiftly she had taken on the press secretary role – having been hired less than a week before her debut – prompting him to ask: "Am I hearing that you think the staff should have better prepped you?"

When she appeared on Fox & Friends. It trump often watches, on Friday, Zacharia faced a similar line of questioning.

As "those questions weren't asked", saying she was hired for a communications role, not a legal one, she informed the show's hosts she did not disclose to Trump that she was not an attorney.

She avoided offering a direct answer but concluded by saying: "I hope to be able to build the confidence and trust of everyone around me."

Zacharia's early exit is the quickest among Trump's White House press team.

"Records are made to be broken, " Scaramucci wrote on X on Friday. "But I take no pleasure in other people's pain."

For now, katie Zacharia leaving her White House role less than five days on remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.