KNOCK-OFF

One-Time Trump Aide Takes Swipe at His New Mouthpiece

The former communications director has speculated publicly about whether Katie Zacharia has enough experience for the high-profile role.

President Donald Trump‘s one-time White House communications director is casting doubt on whether his new press secretary is up to the job.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a conservative co-host of The View, was one of many across the political spectrum to question White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia’s experience after she stumbled through her first press briefing.

“WH Press Secretary, even when you’re 100% on partisan talking pts, is still an incredibly difficult job that people spend years preparing for,” Griffin, 37, wrote in an X post on Tuesday.

“Karoline was young, but had already been a WH press staffer, a senior Cap Hill aide, & run for Congress. Those chops prepared her,” she continued. “It’s waaaay harder than being a cable news pundit.”

Zacharia, who frequently appeared on Fox News and the far-right Newsmax, though not on either channel’s payroll, cut the briefing short after just 14 minutes.

The Trump appointee took only three questions, all from conservative outlets: Breitbart, Fox, and the Daily Mail. Despite the friendly line of questioning, she struggled to answer, including when asked how she plans to balance her new role with time for her children.

“The idea of not spending evenings with my kid, kids are completely unacceptable, so my president, err excuse me, my husband, that’s a good one, my husband is out here, is out here for the week,” she said, laughing awkwardly.

Zacharia has been married to film producer Tyler Zacharia for at least a decade. The couple has four children under 12.

Some White House officials already believe that she may be on the fritz after the poor performance at the podium.

One White House official told MS NOW of her performance: “Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better, fast. Otherwise, she’ll break Scaramucci’s record.”

Scaramucci served as the White House communications director for just 10 days in 2017 during Trump’s first administration before he was fired.

Zacharia is also under fire over her mysterious legal record. Though the pundit claims she has been a practicing attorney, the independent outlet Popular Information says no publicly available evidence shows Zacharia ever passed a bar exam or was admitted to the bar in any state.

Her LinkedIn also states that she worked as an associate at Zhong Lun Law Firm, an elite Chinese law firm.

Her work in China does not establish that she passed a U.S. bar exam or was admitted to practice in any state.

In a statement to Politico, the press secretary said she “practiced international transactional law, with all the appropriate credentials” and asserted she never wanted to live in China.

Play Video

This isn’t the first time Griffin, who resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, has openly criticized Trump’s appointees.

Last week, she took aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that he will livestream the execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan.

“I support the death penalty, especially for terrorists,” The View co-host wrote on X. “But I think it’s toxic for society to live-stream an execution. And bad for the human soul to tune in to watch.”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.