President Donald Trump said Friday that he told his embattled White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, to reconsider taking on the high-profile job.
Shortly after his statements, The New York Times, citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported that Zacharia had been fired after less than a week in the role.
“I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, ‘Katie, you know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want,'” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that Zacharia responded that the job is “a lot tougher” than she thought.
“I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider,'” Trump said.
Zacharia, a conservative commentator who has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer, made her White House press briefing debut on Tuesday and quickly came under intense scrutiny over her legal credentials.
On Thursday, Zacharia said she took the bar exam but failed, and never retook it.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Zacharia had been treated “very badly” and “very unfairly” by the media.
“She’s been treated very rough, and she’s a nice person, very nice person,” the president said. “I’ve watched her for years on television, but I said, ‘Is this for you, Katie? Because, honestly, you don’t need this.'”
“She’s been treated, I would say, very nastily,” he said.
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