STARTING TROUBLE

Trump’s New Press Secretary Flees First 14-Minute Briefing

Katie Zacharia’s first appearance at the podium was short-lived.

Katie Zacharia’s tenure as White House press secretary got off to a rough start Tuesday, when she made her briefing-room debut.

The 41-year-old conservative commentator turned top Trump official began her appearance by reading from a script that lavished praise on President Donald Trump. She then took questions from three reporters before fleeing the room.

Her entire appearance at the podium barely lasted 14 minutes, during which she stumbled through her prepared remarks and called on reporters from a list.

While Zacharia has been a frequent guest on conservative media, where she touts Trump’s agenda, it was unclear whether her faltering first appearance at the White House podium marked the start of a carefully scripted position or was just beginner’s nerves.

“I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House press secretary,” she began. “I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted to work for him for a very long time.”

Zacharia kept her eyes mostly on her prepared remarks as she delivered her opening lines, during which she pulled a move that harkened back to Trump’s first White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, during his first term, while bragging about Trump event crowd size being at “record highs.”

“Just look no further than last night in Youngstown, Ohio, where President Donald Trump delivered another blockbuster rally out on the trail. The arena was overflowing with enthusiasm as thousands came out to support President Trump,” she said of the looming midterms.

“Everyday Americans are showing up in droves to attend these rallies because of President Trump’s America First agenda of lower taxes, higher wages, and one of my favorites, secure borders,” she added moments later, sounding much more like a campaign spokesperson rather than a White House official with a salary paid by the taxpayer.

Her scripted remarks lasted roughly eight minutes before she opened the room up to questions, calling on a Breitbart reporter in the “new media seat” from her list.

After heaps of praise for her predecessor, Karoline Leavitt, for her “incredible job” and confirming the new media seat would remain, she also called on Fox News’ Peter Doocy for a question.

On the one policy question about whether the U.S. had stopped sharing intel with Ukraine, she answered simply, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

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The only actual news Zacharia revealed was that the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, had been asked to resign after a series of reports that she asked a GOP donor to pay her personal expenses in exchange for access.

However, Zacharia did not provide any details on how the request went down or who would replace her.

“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” Zacharia said.

The new White House press secretary then answered a personal question about handling the job as the mother of four children with a family that had been based in California until she took the job. She gave perhaps her longest response to any question asked, during which she made an uncomfortable slip.

“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.

When she finished her answer, she wrapped up the briefing, which started 15 minutes late, by saying the president was about to depart for Alaska, so people could ask him questions directly.

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