In this Friday news dump segment, Molly McPherson and journalist Greg dissect the removal of Katie Zachariah as White House press secretary. They argue that her inaugural press briefing revealed a lack of readiness, describing her as a "deer in the headlights" and emphasizing that the role cannot be learned on the job. The hosts criticize her disastrous interview with Sean Hannity, noting the hostile tone and the White House's tendency to blame legacy media. They allege severe vetting failures, highlighting a lawyer‑exam controversy where Zachariah allegedly avoided a withdrawal on her record, failed the exam, and concealed a corporate counsel job in China. The discussion expands to the broader chaos within the White House press operation, mentioning rapid hiring practices and the uncertain status of staff member Caroline Levitt. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and sharply critical, painting the ouster as a symptom of deeper systemic issues in White House communications.
Chapters
It's the ultimate Friday news dump. Greg, guess who was dumped today?
Not hard to guess this one. It's Katie Zachariah.
When was the death knell moment for you for Katie Zachariah?
I thought it was the very first press briefing. She was just a deer in the headlights. This is one of the toughest jobs in American politics. You don't grow into it. You don't learn as you go. You need to be there at the moment of the second you start, and she just wasn't ready.
That's a really good point. And you've worked— you're a journalist. You've worked with press secretaries a lot. Right. And you just know, like, you know, a weak press secretary from a strong one.
Absolutely. You know, that's their job to, to get that White House message out.
This is not a job where you grow into it.
No, it's not for the faint of heart.
Timing. Her Sean Hannity interview was so awful because, one, just the disdain on his face. And in crisis, what do people do when they're in the thick of it? You know, they're in a hole. Details, details, details, details. That's how they dig themselves out of a hole is with detail. Fox Friends this morning, which is a crazy spin to blame legacy media, that Sean Hannity and Fox is legacy media.
Well, it's also, you know, anyone connected with the White House blames everything on legacy media.
Right, but it's Fox. It shows like how quickly they hired her shows how messy it is behind the scenes.
Well, yes, the vetting process, the chaos going on in that building right now.
Yeah, well, vetting, there could not have been.
No, there was no vetting.
Any vetting other than looks, right?
Well, the whole lawyer controversy didn't do her any favors. But again, it was her performance at that podium that did her in.
Yeah, it was the performance opened the door, but they would have to keep arguing the lawyer part and there was really no argument for it. And then she said she didn't want, I don't know if you know this, she said she didn't want a withdrawal on her record for the law exam. So she just took it and failed it. Like she knew she was gonna fail it because she already had a job in China, but that job was to be corporate counsel in China. So shows how poor the vetting was. They didn't even know that.
