NBC's late-night funny man Jimmy Fallon is doing the Democrats' dirty work just two weeks from the midterm elections, issuing a completely partisan dog pile on President Donald Trump and Republicans that would make Stephen Colbert blush.
The post Jimmy Fallon Takes Up Colbert’s Mantle, as Voters Head to Polls, with Blistering Anti-Trump Monologue appeared first on Breitbart.
Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia actively sought media interviews, including with Fox News's Sean Hannity, in the lead-up to her interview Thursday on Hannity, according to text messages reviewed by Breitbart News.
The post Texts Show Zacharia Sought Interview with Hannity, Debunking Politico’s Claim Wiles Set It Up appeared first on Breitbart.
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L’ha presa con sportività, Katie Zacharia, la portavoce più breve della storia che, dopo aver lasciato la Casa Bianca, ha voluto salutare Donald Trump con parole di grande stima. “Il presidente è un uomo gentile, meraviglioso, attento, premuroso, entusiasta e laborioso. Vorrei che più americani lo apprezzassero. Nessuno riuscirà mai più a rendere grande l’America come lui ha fatto e continua a fare. È stato un onore lavorare per lui”, ha scritto sul suo profilo X.
Il messaggio è comparso poche ore dopo l’uscita di scena, a meno di una settimana dalla nomina. Zacharia era stata scelta il 9 ottobre per sostituire Karoline Leavitt, che ad agosto aveva lasciato l’incarico per dedicarsi alla famiglia. A pesare è stato soprattutto il debutto con la stampa: un briefing di quattordici minuti, con sole tre domande, tutte di giornalisti vicini all’amministrazione. In quella stessa occasione è arrivato anche l’annuncio del licenziamento dell’ambasciatrice americana ad Atene, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Alle critiche sulla conferenza si sono poi sommati i dubbi sul suo percorso professionale. Zacharia ha ammesso di non aver superato l’esame da avvocato in California, nonostante si fosse presentata come legale nelle sue apparizioni a Fox News. A quel punto, secondo quanto riportato, è stato lo stesso Trump a suggerirle di fare un passo indietro.
In due mandati presidenziali, Trump ha cambiato sette portavoce. Katie Zacharia è rimasta in carica appena cinque giorni: ecco chi l’ha preceduta.
È stato il primo portavoce della Casa Bianca del primo mandato di Trump. Il suo nome è rimasto legato alle polemiche sul numero di persone presenti alla cerimonia di insediamento del gennaio 2017. Spicer sostenne che si fosse trattato del pubblico più numeroso di sempre, nonostante le immagini mostrassero una partecipazione inferiore a quella registrata per l’insediamento di Barack Obama. In seguito riconobbe di aver commesso alcuni “passi falsi”. Si dimise nel luglio 2017, dopo circa sei mesi.
Tra le collaboratrici più fidate di Trump, aveva avuto un ruolo importante nella campagna elettorale del 2016. Il suo periodo alla Casa Bianca fu segnato da rapporti difficili con i giornalisti e da lunghe pause senza briefing formali. Nel rapporto del procuratore speciale Robert Mueller sulle interferenze russe nelle elezioni del 2016 emerse che Sanders aveva ammesso di aver formulato un’affermazione priva di fondamento sul presunto mancato sostegno di “innumerevoli” agenti dell’Fbi all’allora direttore James Comey, licenziato da Trump. Lasciò l’incarico alla fine di giugno 2019. Oggi è governatrice dell’Arkansas.
Già portavoce di Melania Trump dal marzo 2017, Grisham lavorava con il presidente fin dall’inizio della campagna elettorale del 2015. Assunse l’incarico di portavoce della Casa Bianca nel luglio 2019, distinguendosi per una scelta senza precedenti: non tenne mai un briefing formale con i giornalisti. Rimase in carica meno di un anno, prima di passare al ruolo di capo di gabinetto della first lady.
Dopo aver inizialmente criticato Trump durante le primarie repubblicane, McEnany diventò l’ultima portavoce del suo primo mandato. Il momento più delicato arrivò dopo l’assalto al Congresso del 6 gennaio 2021. In una breve apparizione davanti alla stampa, dichiarò che la Casa Bianca condannava le violenze “nei termini più forti possibili” e le definì “inaccettabili”. Trump non partecipò al briefing.
Già componente dello staff della comunicazione durante il primo mandato di Trump, Leavitt è diventata la più giovane portavoce della Casa Bianca nella storia degli Stati Uniti. Aveva appena 28 anni quando ha annunciato l’uscita dall’amministrazione, spiegando di voler dedicare più tempo alla famiglia. Resta ora una sola domanda: chi sarà il prossimo?
L'articolo Tutti gli uomini (e le donne) del presidente: da Spicer ai 5 giorni di Katie Zacharia, la girandola dei portavoce di Trump proviene da Affaritaliani.it.
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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.
Samuel Corum/Pool/FTWP
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.
Original Caption
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.
UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
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.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
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.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after five days on the job, officials confirmed on Friday.
The lawyer-ish-person-turned-White House spokesperson had a rocky debut at the podium on Tuesday, during which she stumbled over prepared remarks and later raised eyebrows after she told a reporter that she passed the bar in China.
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he told Zacharia to reconsider the role. Later that day, a White House official told Business Insider that Zacharia was "transitioning out" of the position.
By standards of the Trump White House, which had a notorious revolving door during the first go-round, that's pretty short.
There are a lot of other things that lasted longer than Zacharia's tenure. Here are 10 of them.
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Scaramucci's firing in July 2017 became a spectacle, not least in part because of his notably short tenure.
First came a profanity-laced call to a New Yorker reporter, in which Scaramucci badmouthed some of his colleagues in the White House. Then came John F. Kelly, laying down the law in the West Wing by firing Scaramucci and making an example of him on his first day on the job as chief of staff.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sally Yates lasted exactly One Mooch.
Yates was a holdover from the second Obama Administration, taking on the AG role after Loretta Lynch stepped down at Trump's inauguration in 2017.
Her position as attorney general was expected to be short. Still, acting AGs from the previous administration typically held on to their roles until the incoming president picked a new attorney general, who would then be confirmed by the Senate.
Yates was fired after she told the Justice Department not to defend Trump's first travel-ban executive order.
UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
After Zacharia, TerHorst takes the record for the second shortest-serving White House press secretary.
TerHorst served under President Gerald Ford from August 9, 1974, to September 8, 1974. He resigned in protest after Ford granted Richard Nixon a full pardon.
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An opinion piece in The Economist quipped that Truss' premiership will have the "shelf-life of a lettuce."
The comment came after Truss's economic package immediately unnerved investors, sending the pound and government-bond markets spiraling.
Thus, the lettuce meme was born. On October 14, 2022, Daily Star, a tabloid newspaper, was inspired by The Economist's comment and set up a livestream of a lettuce wearing a wig: "Will Liz Truss outlast this lettuce?"
She didn't. Truss resigned six days later. She was the PM from September 6 to October 25, 2022.
Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Keeping in theme with the foods that last longer than political positions: The US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service says a hard-boiled egg can be stored in the fridge for up to seven days.
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Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen on July 10, 1553, but her half-sister, Mary — the eldest daughter of Henry VIII — gathered enough political support to overthrow her. Mary would claim the crown on July 19, 1553.
Grey became known as the "Nine Days Queen" and was executed by beheading in 1554.
NASA/Newsmakers
The Apollo 11 crew spent more time in space than Zacharia did as the press secretary: 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds to be exact.
We can dig in more. Zacharia's first press briefing lasted about 14 minutes, according to recordings. Neil Armstrong spent more time walking on the moon: 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 37 seconds, a NASA report said. Buzz Aldrin was on the moon for about 40 minutes less, according to the report.
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The 1967 conflict between Israel and neighboring Arab states was so short that its duration became its namesake. The war lasted from June 5 to June 10, 1967.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
You have more time to binge-watch "Severance" or "Ted Lasso" on Apple TV than Zacharia had time in the White House.
Maybe we shouldn't point this out unless we want Apple to realize there are shorter things than the company's free-trial policy.
Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian married NBA player Kris Humphries on August 20, 2011. She filed for divorce on October 31, 2011.
To be fair, this may still be more of a reflection on Kardashian than on Zacharia. You would hope a marriage lasts longer than five days, right? Then again, this is the longest thing on the list, so you go, Kim!
Katie Zacharia stepped down from her role as White House press secretary this Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested she resign following criticism she faced during her first week on the job, an official confirmed to EFE.
RELATED:
Katie Zacharia Debuts as White House Press Secretary
She is in the process of leaving the position of press secretary, the source stated, without specifying whether she resigned or was dismissed. Her departure comes just five days after she assumed the role on Monday, October 12, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the position in August to focus on her family.
The president indicated that he would leave that decision up to her and noted that he would speak with the press secretary. The White House did not officially announce the departure, although government sources confirmed it to outlets such as CNN and Fox News.
Zacharia’s first appearance before the press, on Tuesday, October 13, lasted barely 14 minutes. During the press briefing, she read much of her statement and answered only three questions—all of which came from conservative media outlets.
New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia opened her first briefing by praising President Donald Trump and his midterm campaign. Zacharia, 41, is a conservative commentator who previously worked as a senior communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, the… pic.twitter.com/BK2X1XSwII
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 13, 2026
The official also struggled to answer certain questions, including one regarding the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine. Her performance drew criticism and led to increased scrutiny of her professional background.
Her appointment came as a surprise in Washington, following weeks of speculation about who would succeed Leavitt. According to an official cited by CNN, the White House faced challenges in recruiting higher-profile figures, as several potential candidates had previously been critical of Trump.
Presidential aides repeatedly narrowed down the list of candidates, ruling some out after discovering past unfavorable comments they had made about the president—which automatically disqualified them.
Zacharia’s departure marks one of the shortest tenures in the White House press office in recent memory, leaving the position of presidential press secretary vacant once again.
#UnitedStates | Trump is reviving unsubstantiated election fraud claims ahead of the November 3 midterms, targeting mail-in voting while encouraging supporters to vote early.
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 9, 2026
Polls suggest the cost of living remains voters' top concern.#Midterms2026 #teleSUREnglish pic.twitter.com/wHdgdHaT1J
© Kenny Holston/The New York Times
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Embattled White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is out of the job after just five days, making her the shortest-tenured person to hold the role in history.
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he told Zacharia to reconsider taking on the high-profile job.
Shortly after his statements, The New York Times and CNN reported that Zacharia had been fired after less than a week in the role. A White House official told Business Insider that she is "transitioning out" of the role.
"I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, 'Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want,'" Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that Zacharia responded that the job is "a lot tougher" than she thought.
"I said to her, 'Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider,'" Trump said.
A conservative commentator who has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer, Zacharia made her White House press briefing debut on Tuesday and quickly came under intense scrutiny over her legal credentials.
She was widely panned after the roughly 14-minute briefing, most of which was spent on reading from prepared remarks. After the briefing, while alongside Trump, Zacharia was asked which state she passed the bar exam in and replied, "When I moved to China," raising eyebrows.
National headlines soon followed reports that Zacharia had not been licensed to practice law in any US jurisdiction.
On Thursday, Zacharia said she took the bar exam but failed, and never retook it.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Zacharia had been treated "very badly" and "very unfairly" by the media.
"She's been treated very rough, and she's a nice person, very nice person," the president said. "I've watched her for years on television, but I said, 'Is this for you, Katie? Because, honestly, you don't need this.'"
"She's been treated, I would say, very nastily," he said.
Following her first briefing, CNN reported that "several White House officials" were questioning how long she could remain in the role.
The news of Zacharia's ouster means Trump will be searching for a top spokesperson again after Karoline Leavitt left the role in August.
Previously, Jonathan Daniels held the record for shortest tenure. Daniels served as White House press secretary for just 19 days before President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office. (He briefly served in an interim capacity for President Harry Truman.)
In the modern era, press secretaries have historically served roughly a year in the role, a fact that CNN noted when Trump's first-ever White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, departed after 182 days in August 2017.
During the first Trump administration, Anthony Scaramucci famously spent just 11 days as the White House communications director before he was booted from the position.
Scaramucci, known as "The Mooch," weighed in on Zacharia's departure in an X post, writing, "Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people's pain."
Before becoming press secretary, Zacharia worked for Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, and served a brief stint at the Department of Homeland Security.
Compared to her predecessors, her résumé was void of the campaign and Capitol Hill experience that previous White House press secretaries brought to the challenging role.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
For corporate recruiters like Martha Heller, asking questions about a job candidate's credentials — like the kind that swirled around now-former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia this week — is par for the course.
When a background check failed to verify an executive candidate's college degree a few years ago, Heller inquired about the discrepancy. The candidate, who was being considered for a job at a California insurance company, claimed a flood at his school had destroyed the records from the year he graduated. Skeptical, Heller called the college and learned that no such event had occurred.
"It was like detective work," she said, adding that the problem wasn't whether the candidate had a college degree. It was that he misrepresented his education and then doubled down when questioned, she said.
Zacharia's self-described legal career has been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent days following her appointment as White House press secretary. When asked by a reporter what state she passed the bar exam in, she responded, "When I moved to China."
Business Insider reviewed records for all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found no evidence that Zacharia had been admitted to any state bar in the US after she graduated with a law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011.
Zacharia later defended calling herself a lawyer, saying that after failing the bar exam the first time, she did not take it a second time. On Friday, a White House official confirmed that she is "transitioning out" of the role.
One of a recruiter's jobs is to vet a candidate's background. Research suggests it's not uncommon for candidates to exaggerate their credentials.
Some 37% of Americans said they've put inaccurate information on their résumés, according to a June report from Novorésumé, an online résumé-building service. Nearly 7% said they'd claimed a degree, certification, or other credential they didn't possess, while 6.1% said they'd listed a job that didn't exist or was substantially fabricated. The findings are based on a May survey of 2,000 US adults.
Brian Fink, a managing partner at tech recruiting firm The ReWork Group, can relate. Last year, a candidate for a senior marketing job at a cybersecurity company was on the verge of being hired when a background check failed to confirm that he'd worked for a company listed as a past employer on his résumé and LinkedIn profile.
Fink said he gave the candidate an opportunity to provide evidence supporting his claim, but the man refused.
"I had no choice but to rescind the offer," said Fink. "If you're willing to lie about your education, what else are you willing to lie about?"
Recruiters typically wait until a job candidate is a finalist to conduct a background check because the task is time-consuming and costly. They also tend to hold off contacting references early on to avoid tipping off the person's current employer that they're job hunting. Early in the process, though, some recruiters will look for potential red flags by probing inconsistencies or gaps in candidates' work histories.
Doug Johnson, CEO of executive search firm Valor Partners, said he asks candidates at the end of an interview if there's anything embarrassing or potentially damaging in their past that might come up during a background or reference check. He tells them that disclosing it now gives them a chance to address the issue with a prospective employer, while discovering it later could cost them the job.
Most candidates say there's nothing to be concerned about, said Johnson. But some subsequently fall off the radar, and others suddenly report receiving a raise or finding a better opportunity elsewhere.
"It worries people who have a conscience," he said.
Update: October 16, 2026 — This article has been updated to reflect Friday's news that Zacharia is out of the role.
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