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New Trump Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Was A Disaster

October 14, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

New Trump Press Secretary Katie Zachariah Was A Disaster

The White House press secretary's first briefing lasted 14 minutes, most of which was her prepared statement. She took questions from three outlets — Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail — and when asked the only substantive policy question of the day — whether the US had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine — she replied, "I'll have to get back to you on that." One reporter asked how she could do the job and still be a working mom who "has it all"; she fumbled that answer too, at one point referring to her husband as "the president."

A Press Briefing That Went Off the Rails

Katie Zachariah's debut was widely described inside the White House as "brutal," with CNN reporting that colleagues questioned how long she would last. The hosts noted that previous press secretaries like Robert Gibbs, Jay Carney, Josh Earnest, and Jen Psaki spent weeks studying and doing mock briefings before facing the press. Zachariah was picked the day before and thrown out there with no preparation. But the hosts argued the Ukraine intelligence question didn't require prep — "talking should be part of your repertoire."

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What you'll learn

  • 1 New Trump Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Was A Disaster
  • 2 Timestamped Outline
  • 3 (00:00) **Ad Break** - LinkedIn ad for small business growth
  • 4 (00:30) **Trump's Tiger Mauling Posts** - Hosts discuss Trump sharing a video of a man being killed by a tiger on Truth Social
  • 5 (02:08) **Trump Campaigns in Alaska** - Trump travels 4,000 miles to rally in Wasilla, Alaska for Dan Sullivan
  • 6 (05:08) **Trump's Tarrio Flu Obsession** - Trump continues riffing on Enrique Tarrio having the flu
  • 7 (05:34) **Katie Zacharia's Disastrous First Briefing** - New White House press secretary's 14-minute briefing goes poorly

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Show Notes

Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor get into Donald Trump’s weird truth social posts and his new Press Secretary’s embarrassing first briefing. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR: ZIPRECRUITER: https://ziprecruiter.com/CROOKED CHAPTERS 0:00 - Trump's truth social posts 1:36 - Trump in Alaska 5:00 - Katie Zacharia 14:37 - Ad break 15:27 - Kimberly Guilfoyle updates 22:24 - Jaime West Join this channel to get access to perks like ad-free episodes and exclusive videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKRoXz3hHAu2XL_k3Ef4vJQ/join Head to CrookedCon.com for tickets, lineup announcements, and more! http://crookedcon.com/ For a transcript of an episode of Pod Save America, please email [email protected]. Subscribe to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/crookedmedia?sub_confirmation=1 Photos courtesy of AP Photo Archive Crooked believes that we need a better conversation about politics, culture, and the world around us—one that doesn’t just focus on what’s broken, but what we can do to fix it. At a time when it’s increasingly easy to feel cynical or hopeless, former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor have created a place where people can have sane conversations that inform, entertain, and inspire action. In 2017 they started Crooked with Pod Save America—a no-bullshit conversation about politics. Since then, we continue to add shows, voices, and opportunities for activism, because it’s up to all of us to do our part to build a better world. That’s it. End of mission. Learn more about Crooked at http://www.crooked.com Follow the pod on Twitter https://twitter.com/podsaveamerica Follow Crooked on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CrookedMedia/ Follow Crooked on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/

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