WASHINGTON — Karoline Leavitt weighed in on her first successor to the White House press secretary job, saying the position “was not for” Katie Zacharia.
Leavitt told Fox News that being President Trump’s spokesperson “takes a lot of preparation and sometimes you don’t know how someone will perform until they go out there.”
“We wish Katie the best. The job obviously was not for her, but we wish her and her family well,” she added.
Zacharia lasted five days as Trump’s press secretary, giving a short briefing where she was visibly nervous. Since her departure, she returned to her California home and has stayed quiet, being captured in public working out and again sporting a MAGA hat.
But Zacharia’s supporters are crying foul about Leavitt’s not-so-subtle assessment.
“It’s unfair for the former press secretary to continue brutalizing President Trump’s hand-picked successor,” a source familiar with Zacharia’s thinking told The Post.
“Katie has been adamant about not taking any interviews with friendly or hostile press, has declined profile pieces and would like for the coverage to focus on President Trump’s hard work,” the source continued. “She will not go on a self-promotion tour because it does not benefit the president. And she remains ruthlessly loyal while facing unprecedented attacks against her.”
Behind the scenes, some of the administration concedes that Zacharia was given a tough start.
She flew in from California to interview with President Trump on the Friday before she started the job, then flew back to California to pack up her belongings and returned to Washington DC that weekend. Monday was spent onboarding — filling out the paperwork and background information necessary to work for the government.
Her first briefing was Tuesday morning, which was essentially her first full day on the job and she was sent into the press room to take on the media.
“I have always been deeply thankful for the opportunity to support President Trump and his agenda in the media in the years before he asked me to serve as Press Secretary,” Zacharia told The Post.
“There is no other president in history like him. He has single-handedly saved America with his effective policies, and no one has been more relentlessly attacked by the media than President Trump.”
She continued: “He deserves fair coverage of the real wins he is delivering for Americans — historic border security, massive new investments in manufacturing and energy, and the women’s health initiative he and the First Lady just launched. I continue to fully support the incredible work he is doing for the American people and for America’s interests around the world.”
The administration is not expected to hire a new press secretary before November’s midterm election.
“I wouldn’t expect anything new pre-midterms,” a source familiar told The Post.
Leavitt said she’s helping the president find a new person to fulfill one of the most public-facing roles in the administration, which she called “one of the hardest jobs in politics.”
“I’ve offered my help to the president to help him select someone who can serve him and the country well,” she told Fox.
But she declined to offer a list of names being considered for the role.
“I’ll keep my private counsel to the president private, but I do obviously talk to him about what the job entails, and he knows it very well. Nobody understands the press better than Donald Trump. He knows he needs someone who is tough, who is smart, who understands his policies, who is loyal, and who can go out there and put up a fight,” Leavitt said.
“There’s plenty of people who want the job… It’s just up to the president to make that decision.”
Leavitt received rave reviews for her work as press secretary. She stepped down in August to spend more time with her family, which includes two young children.
But she’s sticking with Team Trump, working for the president’s political arm as a spokesperson.
She was in Manchester, NH, on Wednesday to speak to the Make the Heaven Crowded Tour, where she discussed how she prepared for her press briefings.
“I prepared like heck for that first briefing especially,” Leavitt said. “I poured myself into my preparation. I read. I studied. I talked to every cabinet member. I talked to the president.”
Leavitt also spoke to Pod Force One’s Miranda Devine late last year about standing at the podium in the briefing room.
“The press briefing room can be combative, and sometimes it is behind the scenes as well, but I tell our team that we need to be professional and get them facts, and nobody does that better than President Trump,” she said.
Zacharia, meanwhile, told The California Post she had no regrets.
“I’m proud I said yes, stood firm in what I believe, and kept supporting the president even when the circumstances weren’t ideal for me — showing my children what courage looks like in the face of criticism,” she said.
