White House officials question whether Trump will keep Zacharia in press secretary role after short first briefing

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

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.

One called her fleeting initial appearance unusual, and another characterized it as “brutal.”

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. About 5½ minutes were spent on questions from the press.

She called on only three reporters, and she appeared to have their names on a prewritten list: one from conservative outlet Breitbart, which was in the “new media” seat, another from Fox News and the last at the Daily Mail.

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.

Other advisers to the president described Tuesday’s briefing as awkward, stilted and, at times, uncomfortable. Another 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.

“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.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.

朱莉娅·德马雷·尼金森/美联社

在周二的首次新闻发布会后，几位白宫官员质疑凯蒂·扎卡里亚能否继续担任新闻秘书一职，并指出她的表现不太可能让唐纳德·特朗普总统满意。

有人称她短暂的初次亮相不同寻常，还有人形容她的亮相“残酷”。

扎卡里亚在讲台上只待了大约15分钟，其中大部分时间都用来发表开场白，吹捧特朗普的政绩。记者提问环节只用了大约5分半钟。

她只点名了三位记者，而且她似乎事先列好了名单：一位来自保守派媒体 Breitbart（该媒体被安排在“新媒体”席位），一位来自福克斯新闻，最后一位来自《每日邮报》。

这次新闻发布会明显比以往的惯例要短。前白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特的新闻发布会平均持续约45分钟。在她第一次新闻发布会上，她先点名两位“新媒体”记者提问，然后才点名一位美联社记者。她还会回答站在过道里的记者的提问。

总统的其他顾问形容周二的简报会尴尬、生硬，有时甚至令人不适。另一位顾问告诉CNN，虽然扎卡里亚“表现并不出色”，但这只是她第一次参加新闻发布会。他们原本以为特朗普会给她一些时间，相信她能应付得了。

一位顾问说：“毫无疑问，我们都很想念卡罗琳。”

扎卡里亚表示，她要缩短简报时间，因为特朗普很可能在前往阿拉斯加之前，很快会在白宫南草坪接受记者提问。

“我要结束今天的发言了，因为特朗普总统即将乘坐海军陆战队一号直升机前往阿拉斯加进行历史性的访问，我们可以在那里向他提出所有问题，”她说。

目前尚不清楚扎卡里亚将以何种频率向记者通报情况。CNN“可靠消息来源”栏目对白宫视频档案的分析显示，莱维特在生第二个孩子之前，平均每周举行一次正式简报会。她在4月底开始休产假前的四个月里，共举行了14次简报会。

在 2025 年剩余的时间里，她又举行了 49 次简报会，其中包括几次非传统的简报会。

CNN的Alejandra Jaramillo对本报道亦有贡献。