Here’s How White House Insiders Engineered Zacharia’s Exit

Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after a disastrous five days on the job. Pushing her out was the right thing to do. Between her performance at the podium and her claim to be a lawyer when she wasn't one, she had to go. From where I sit, this entire episode could have been avoided.

Now a new report suggests we know who finally set things right.

The buzz on social media is that Zacharia's brief run broke Anthony Scaramucci's record of 11 days for the shortest tenure in the Trump White House. Even though she was a disaster, several people in the administration defended her publicly, which made me wonder whether they would keep her on despite her inadequacy. Well, according to Politico, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is the one who quietly set the wheels in motion for her exit.

Two people told the outlet that Wiles helped arrange the Sean Hannity interview that sealed Zacharia's fate, and that Zacharia was never Wiles' preferred choice for the job. Meanwhile, Trump officials texted CNN hosts about her weak first briefing, and some may have been acting on orders.

One person familiar with the internal dynamics, speaking anonymously to Politico, called the Hannity appearance a "sanctioned hit" on Zacharia.

"[White House spokesperson] Danielle [Alvarez] and Susie fed her to Hannity," a second person familiar with the matter told Politico, pointing out that Wiles and Hannity are on good terms and speak regularly.

Not everyone buys that version of events.

A senior White House official pushed back hard on the idea that Wiles orchestrated anything.

"Susie and Sean do talk, but Susie did not need to feed her to Sean or anybody else," the official said. "It's not her style."

The same official argued that Zacharia did herself in long before Hannity got to her. "And Hannity wasn't the nail in her coffin; her hit [on Fox & Friends] this morning was, as well as her weird answer on being a lawyer," the official added. The official White House line is that any talk of Wiles' involvement amounts to speculation.

Whoever pulled the strings, the outcome was correct.

Zacharia's first briefing was a dumpster fire, and reminded me of Karine Jean-Pierre, stumbling through briefings with binders in hand. She was so bad that the Biden administration brought in a babysitter for her, but because she was a Black Lesbian Woman™ they were never going to fire her.

Could Zacharia have grown into the job? Maybe, but that’s hardly a position you should be getting on-the-job training for. You need to be ready and competent on day one. But, in the end, her fake resume was the real problem. Zacharia claimed she had passed the bar in China, then waffled when asked whether she was actually an attorney. That's a failure to be forthcoming while applying for one of the toughest jobs in politics, and I blame the White House for that one. She clearly wasn’t properly vetted, if she was vetted at all.

Obviously, passing the bar isn’t a prerequisite to stand at that podium. But lying about her credentials destroyed her credibility from the start, and a press secretary without credibility can't do the job.

We heard plenty of excuses for her first briefing, chief among them the lack of prep time. Her appearances on Fox & Friends and on Hannity blew that defense apart. She should have known questions about her background were coming, and she still couldn't give a straight answer. That tells you that even with all the prep time in the world, she wasn't good at the job.

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