Katie Zacharia’s first briefing as President Donald Trump’s press secretary was on Tuesday. By Friday, the White House confirmed she was out.
The record five-day tenure came after days of missteps by Zacharia, and amid two watchdog groups filing complaints with the State Bar of California on Wednesday, asking it to investigate whether she violated California law by calling herself a lawyer.
While the longest-serving press secretary was Stephen Early, who held the post for 12 years under Franklin D. Roosevelt, only four press secretaries have lasted under two months.
Here’s a closer look at White House press secretaries with the shortest tenures.
Katie Zacharia
Katie Zacharia made her White House press briefing debut on Tuesday and quickly came under intense scrutiny over her legal credentials.
Shortly after Tuesday’s briefing, she was asked which state she passed the bar exam in and replied: “When I moved to China.”
On Thursday in an interview with right-wing provocateur Jack Posobiec, Zacharia said she took the bar exam but failed, and never retook it.
Zacharia moved to China after earning her law degree in 2011, and told Posobiec she had already preregistered for the bar exam before moving to Beijing, where her husband was working at an American private equity firm.
“I didn’t want to withdraw from that,” Zacharia said of the bar exam. “And we knew we would be moving out to China, and I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I had been long-distance from for at least a year.”
She served as press secretary between October 12 and October 16.
Stephen Early
Stephen Early is both the longest-serving press secretary in US history and the press secretary with the second-shortest tenure.
He was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s press secretary for 12 years, from 1933 to March 1945.
Early then briefly returned as acting press secretary under President Harry S. Truman in December 1950 after the death of press secretary Charles Ross.
Early was in the position for 14 days, from December 5 to December 18, 1950.
Jerald TerHorst
Jerald TerHorst served as President Gerald Ford’s press secretary for over one month, from August 9 to September 8, 1974.
He resigned in protest of Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal.
TerHorst said he could not defend Ford’s decision in good conscience, despite his long-standing friendship with the president.
Jonathan Daniels
Jonathan Daniels served a short tenure as press secretary at the end of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency and at the beginning of Harry S. Truman’s.
That brings his tenure to 48 days, from March 29 to May 15, 1945.
He was appointed shortly before Roosevelt’s death and stayed on temporarily to help Truman transition into the presidency.
Truman then selected Charles Ross as Daniels’ replacement.
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