Katie Zachariah out as White House press secretary after five days

Katie Zachariah has left the White House press secretary role after five days, the shortest tenure in the job on record. US media reports say she was fired by President Donald Trump. The New York Times quoted three people close to the matter as saying Trump fired her. Fox News first reported she was transitioning out. Trump himself did not directly say she was sacked when he spoke to reporters before boarding Marine One. He said he had spoken to her two minutes earlier and told her: 'Katie, you don't have to do this if you don't want to.' He added that she said: 'This is a lot tougher.' He replied: 'Welcome to the world of Trump.' Asked whether he would keep her, he said: 'I'm going to let her make that distinction.' He also said she had been treated very badly and unfairly by the media.

Her exit came after a bruising first press briefing on Tuesday, her second day in the job. It lasted under 14 minutes, which reporters said was the shortest White House briefing anyone could remember. She read a prepared statement and appeared nervous. She took questions from only three journalists, all from right-leaning outlets: Breitbart News, Fox News and the Daily Mail. Most questions were soft, including about balancing the job with family life. She gave one piece of breaking news, saying the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, would resign after being asked to step down. On whether the US had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she said she did not know and would get back to reporters. She also mistakenly called her husband 'president' before correcting herself to 'husband'.

Questions about her legal credentials deepened the crisis. Trump had called her an attorney, and she had described herself as a lawyer. On Fox News, she admitted she took the bar exam but did not pass it. Asked where she had passed the bar, Trump said China, or she said she did so when she moved to China. That claim is not possible because an American cannot sit a bar exam in China. Reports said there were inquiries into whether a crime had been committed. The White House director of communications praised her on social media, saying she would be remembered as a lawyer or one of the all-time greats, according to different broadcasts.

She had been appointed after Karoline Leavitt stood down earlier, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family, according to one account. Her rise was rapid. She received a call summoning her to Washington on Wednesday 7 October, flew the next day, was offered the job last week and accepted the same day. She returned to Los Angeles to say a quick hello and goodbye to her husband and children, then flew back to start work on Monday. She gave her only press briefing on Tuesday and left on Friday. A reporter who interviewed her said she had never held a job that required the kind of daily engagement with the press that the role demands. She had said the frequency of briefings was unknown and would be up to the president.

Her five days make her the shortest-serving White House press secretary in history. Jonathan Daniels served the equivalent of 19 days until Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, though he stayed on under Harry Truman for another month. Sean Spicer lasted 182 days as Trump's first press secretary. Stephen Early, the longest-serving press secretary, held the job for around 12 years. Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 11 days as Trump's communications director in 2017, said records are made to be broken and that he took no pleasure in other people's pain. The departure also comes with other political pressure. Trump faces midterm elections in less than three weeks, his approval is low, and at least three other minor officials have stood down or been fired in recent days. One Fox News poll put his approval at 36 per cent and disapproval at 64 per cent.