White House official calls Katie Zacharia’s first press briefing ‘brutal’

By Kaitlan Collins, Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, Kit Maher, CNN

(CNN) — Several White House officials are questioning how long Katie Zacharia will keep the press secretary job after her first briefing Tuesday, noting her performance was unlikely to satisfy President Donald Trump.

Several advisers and officials offered negative reviews of her performance to CNN, with one characterizing it as “brutal.” Others described it as unusual, awkward, stilted and, at times, uncomfortable. Zacharia appeared at the podium for only about 15 minutes, and most of that time was dedicated to an opening statement touting Trump’s accomplishments. She only called on three reporters for questions before ending the briefing.

Some White House officials and Trump advisers expressed confusion about why the White House rushed Zacharia to the podium.

“She should have been doing murder boards for two weeks before going up there,” one Trump adviser told CNN, before critiquing Zacharia’s performance. “The best thing she did was break the news about [Ambassador to Greece Kimberly] Guilfoyle — at least that takes the focus off of her performance.”

“Why did they put her out there so quickly?” a White House official said incredulously. “Literally zero reason to put her out on her second day, unprepared.”

Trump praised Zacharia after the briefing, telling reporters shortly after: “I thought she was very good.”

The briefing was notably shorter than what had become the norm. Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s briefings lasted for about an average of 45 minutes. During her first briefing, she called on two “new media” reporters before an Associated Press correspondent. She would also take questions from reporters standing in the aisles. Zacharia called on reporters from conservative outlet Breitbart, which was in the “new media” seat, Fox News and the Daily Mail. She appeared to have their names written down ahead of time.

Another adviser told CNN that while Zacharia “wasn’t great,” it was just her first press briefing. They expected Trump would give her the benefit of the doubt.

Trump had grown somewhat infatuated with Zacharia’s appearances on Fox News before eventually hiring her, sources told CNN. But one of the advisers noted that appearing on a cable TV panel and standing in front of the world at the podium were two different things.

“No question we’re all missing Karoline,” said one adviser.

Zacharia said she was cutting the briefing short because Trump would likely soon take reporter questions on the White House South Lawn before he departed for Alaska.

“I am going to end it because President Trump is heading out to Marine One for our historic trip to Alaska, and we can ask him all of the questions out there,” she said.

It is unclear on what cadence Zacharia will brief reporters. A CNN Reliable Sources analysis of the White House video archive found Leavitt, who departed the role in August, held formal briefings about once a week on average before having her second child. She held 14 briefings in the four months leading up to her maternity leave in late April.

She held another 49 briefings through the rest of 2025, which included several nontraditional briefings.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.