WASHINGTON — Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, who held the job for just five days last month before being fired, is again the talk of Washington as several high-profile advisers to President Trump believe she’s angling for a second chance at the podium, The Post has learned.
Three sources close to President Trump told The Post that Zacharia has been working to charm him and new chief of staff Stephen Miller into giving her another shot.
A source familiar with the jockeying told The Post that Zacharia said that she decided to help anchor Right Side Broadcasting Network’s election-night coverage last Tuesday, hoping that Trump would see her performance and decide she’s right for the job.
“She said it out loud,” the tipster said. “It’s absurd. Truly embarrassing.”
Someone who spoke to Zacharia this week said she claimed afterward she was only joking about using her appearance on RSBN to regain the post.
But other prominent sources say that Zacharia, who notably auditioned for the job the first time by appearing on programs Trump was likely to watch, seems to be doing it again.
Zacharia was spotted at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort over the weekend as the president prepared for more staff changes after replacing Susie Wiles with Miller in his first major shakeup since congressional Republicans suffered a landslide election defeat on Tuesday.
With the press secretary role still vacant, Zacharia was observed “staring at [Trump] trying to get his attention” Saturday on the ritzy Palm Beach club’s patio.
“She will never go back. [Trump] thinks she’s a joke. She has zero chance of that,” this person said. “He has been saying she’s a train wreck.”
A White House official, meanwhile, said: “She never stopped. She’s psychotic. She thinks she did a good job at her one briefing.”
Zacharia publicly gushed over Miller and praised his role leading a mass deportation campaign in Trump’s second term, drawing further intrigue into her intentions.
A source close to Zacharia said she claims not to be interested in regaining the job and is “focused on defending free speech and supporting the president’s priorities through other mediums.”
A different person close to her said, “I am 1,000% certain Katie Zacharia has no interest in going and being the press secretary at the White House.”
Others believed to be putting themselves forward include Caroline Sunshine, a former Disney Channel actress who served in Trump’s first term, who a source said “keeps calling and trying to get meetings with [Trump].”
Trump administration sources said the notion of Zacharia returning is farcical after she stumbled during her only White House briefing, which lasted just 14 minutes, before similarly struggling in Fox News interviews with Sean Hannity and “Fox & Friends.”
Fellow White House aides were infuriated by her suggestion to Hannity that her briefing performance was due to insufficient briefing by subordinates.
One White House official scoffed that Zacharia’s return won’t happen in “a million years.”
Administration officials reacted to her attempted comeback with a combination of humor and horror.
“I’ve given birth without drugs and I still can’t imagine that level of pain tolerance,” one quipped.
