President Donald Trump reportedly “overrode” the wishes of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in picking a new press secretary, according to the Daily Mail and The Daily Beast.
Trump announced the pick, conservative personality Katie Zacharia, 41, on Truth Social on Friday. She will replace Karoline Leavitt, who said in August she was leaving to spend more time with her family. Trump called Zacharia someone who “has been a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning.” Zacharia is a communications adviser at Trump Media and Technology Group and previously served as the Republican National Committee’s press secretary in 2024.
Wiles, 69, preferred controversial CNN commentator Scott Jennings for the job, the Mail reported. But Trump was “impressed by Zacharia’s TV appearances” and called her directly about the role, the paper said. Leavitt reportedly supported the decision when Trump asked her opinion. Zacharia is scheduled to hold her first briefing Tuesday.
The Mail reported that one official described the move as one of several apparent slights directed at Wiles, whose influence in Trump’s second-term operation has increasingly been questioned.
“This is seen as one of many recent microaggressions of Donald to Susie. He is taking back control, and it is starting to feel more like the first term,” an administration official told the paper.
Another administration source told the Mail: “Susie wanted someone who would be loyal to her and instead Trump chose someone loyal to him, as it should be.”
The Beast noted that the Mail’s reporting follows an August report from its sister Substack, PunchUp. That report said Wiles learned of Trump’s nomination of Richard “Lance” Schroyer to lead ICE only after the president announced it on social media in June, after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin met with Trump while Wiles and other senior advisers were out of town. Schroyer is an associate of Mullin’s and was subsequently dumped by the White House. The White House denied that officials were blindsided.
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