• President Donald Trump chose Katie Zacharia to serve as the new White House press secretary.
• After five days, a White House official said that she is "transitioning out" of the role.
• Zacharia is among three other former press secretaries with tenures lasting under two months.

Katie Zacharia's first briefing as President Donald Trump's press secretary was on Tuesday. By Friday, the White House confirmed she was out.

The record five-day tenure came after days of missteps by Zacharia, and amid two watchdog groups filing complaints with the State Bar of California on Wednesday, asking it to investigate whether she violated California law by calling herself a lawyer.

While the longest-serving press secretary was Stephen Early, who held the post for 12 years under Franklin D. Roosevelt, only four press secretaries have lasted under two months.

Here's a closer look at White House press secretaries with the shortest tenures.

Katie Zacharia

Katie Zacharia made her White House press briefing debut on Tuesday and quickly came under intense scrutiny over her legal credentials.

Shortly after Tuesday's briefing, she was asked which state she passed the bar exam in and replied: "When I moved to China."

On Thursday in an interview with right-wing provocateur Jack Posobiec, Zacharia said she took the bar exam but failed, and never retook it.

Zacharia moved to China after earning her law degree in 2011, and told Posobiec she had already preregistered for the bar exam before moving to Beijing, where her husband was working at an American private equity firm.

"I didn't want to withdraw from that," Zacharia said of the bar exam. "And we knew we would be moving out to China, and I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I had been long-distance from for at least a year."

She served as press secretary between October 12 and October 16.

Stephen Early

Stephen Early is both the longest-serving press secretary in US history and the press secretary with the second-shortest tenure.

He was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's press secretary for 12 years, from 1933 to March 1945.

Early then briefly returned as acting press secretary under President Harry S. Truman in December 1950 after the death of press secretary Charles Ross.

Early was in the position for 14 days, from December 5 to December 18, 1950.

Jerald TerHorst

Jerald TerHorst served as President Gerald Ford's press secretary for over one month, from August 9 to September 8, 1974.

He resigned in protest of Ford's pardon of former President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal.

TerHorst said he could not defend Ford's decision in good conscience, despite his long-standing friendship with the president.

Jonathan Daniels

Jonathan Daniels served a short tenure as press secretary at the end of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency and at the beginning of Harry S. Truman's.

That brings his tenure to 48 days, from March 29 to May 15, 1945.

He was appointed shortly before Roosevelt's death and stayed on temporarily to help Truman transition into the presidency.

Truman then selected Charles Ross as Daniels' replacement.

• Katie Zacharia left her White House press secretary job after five days.
• Anthony Scaramucci can relate.
• The internet is awash with memes that measured Zacharia's run in "Scaramuccis."

Katie Zacharia’s run as White House press secretary lasted five days, and memes about her exit are rolling in.

There is someone who can relate: Anthony Scaramucci, whose brief stint as Trump’s White House communications director in July 2017 became a pop-culture unit of time — a “Scaramucci,” or “Mooch” — for measuring short-lived political appointments.

Scaramucci held the role for roughly 10 days — six if not including the time lapsed between Trump's announcement and his first day — before Trump fired him.

Scaramucci has been following Zacharia's journey closely and, in a series of tweets, has gone from wishing her well to offering advice.

It started on Thursday, when Scaramucci placed his bet that Zacharia would "make it."

The bet on Zacharia was short-lived. By mid-Friday, Scaramucci was addressing her departure.

Scaramucci also offered Zacharia direct advice.

Meanwhile, the internet has been creating math equations over how many "Scaramuccis" Zacharia had lasted, suggesting she become the new benchmark.

Workers have long been told to stay in a job for at least a year to avoid looking uncommitted to future employers. A string of short stints can still raise eyebrows, but the dates on a résumé don’t always tell the whole story.

Leadership consultants have previously told Business Insider that quick moves that come with more responsibility and opportunities to build skills can strengthen a résumé, in which quick changes in roles could be seen as a sign of ambition and adaptability rather than instability.

Zacharia succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who left in August to spend more time with her young children. She became Trump’s sixth press secretary across his two terms, and the fourth to last less than a year.

While there is helpful career advice out there for Zacharia, a LinkedIn profile picture of Zacharia with the infamous "#Opentowork" tag has also taken off on X. The tweet was originally posted by the Democrats' official account.

The green tag itself has been a much-debated topic on the professional networking platform.

Some recruiters have previously told Business Insider that the label is the "biggest red flag" to hiring managers because it suggests "desperation." Data from 2024, however, show that workers with the public green tag receive 40% more messages from LinkedIn Recruiter than those who use only the private signal.