Karoline Leavitt says Katie Zacharia’s five-day run as White House press secretary showed the job “obviously was not for her,” as President Trump weighs who can next take the podium.
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not soften the verdict. Speaking to Fox News Digital, she said the high-profile briefing-room post is one of the hardest jobs in politics, and that Zacharia’s brief stint made the mismatch plain.
“Well, look, White House press secretary is a tough job,” Leavitt told the outlet.
"I know that because I did it, obviously, for almost two years, and many people say it’s one of the hardest jobs in politics. It takes a lot of preparation, and sometimes you don’t know how someone will perform until they go out there."
She added the line that now defines the episode.
"The job, obviously, was not for her, but we wish her and her family well."
Zacharia, 41, lasted five days in the permanent post, the shortest tenure on record for a White House press secretary. That exit followed Leavitt’s own decision to leave the role at the end of the month after she announced her departure on August 12, citing the pull between motherhood and the nonstop demands of the job.
President Trump is still considering replacements. Leavitt has offered to help him think through the choice, while keeping her private advice private.
Leavitt described what the president needs next in blunt terms. She said nobody understands the press better than Donald Trump, and that he already knows the job’s requirements cold.
"He knows he needs someone who is tough, who is smart, who understands his policies, who is loyal, and who can go out there and put up a fight."
That standard is not abstract. The press secretary faces a hostile briefing room, constant travel, and round-the-clock calls. Leavitt lived it for nearly two years before stepping aside.
In her own exit message, she framed the choice around her children, not politics. After returning from the birth of her daughter Viviana on May 1, she said she could not be the mother her two young kids deserve while giving the office the constant time and attention it requires.
On Instagram she later spelled out the workload: more than 60 hours a week in the office, travel around the world, and being on call 24/7. Home with her kids and doing some television hits, she wrote, is simply not the same job.
Her path after the White House has already moved into media, including a Fox News contributor role that keeps her in the fight from outside government.
Zacharia’s exit closed one of the briefest chapters in modern White House communications. Trump had named her to succeed Leavitt, and she stepped into a job that rewards preparation under fire.
Shortly before news of her departure broke, Trump spoke at a Marine One gaggle and said the media had been “so nasty to her.” He also said he had urged her to reconsider taking the job in the first place.
Coverage of her early turns at the podium included a rocky first briefing and a scramble that she later described in detail, including the 3 a.m. prep scramble that came with the assignment.
Within days, the experiment ended. Reporting on the White House press secretary Katie Zacharia out after five days put the tenure in historical company that few would envy.
For context, Jerald terHorst held the permanent post for 32 days in 1974 before resigning in protest after President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Jonathan Daniels lasted 48 days in 1945. Sean Spicer served roughly six months in Trump’s first term before resigning in July 2017. Zacharia’s five days undercut all of them for a permanent appointment.
Acting stints have been shorter still. Stephen Early filled in for 14 days in December 1950 after Charlie Ross died, before Joseph Short took over. And Anthony Scaramucci’s 11-day run as communications director in July 2017 remains a separate, infamous marker, not the press secretary job, but a reminder of how fast West Wing communications roles can collapse.
Zacharia did not turn on the president after leaving. She told Newsweek she was “deeply thankful” for the chance to support the administration in the media before he selected her for the press secretary post.
"There is no other president in history like him. He has single-handedly saved America with his effective policies, and no one has been more relentlessly attacked by the media than President Trump."
She said she continues to fully support his work for Americans and U.S. interests abroad.
Not everyone liked Leavitt’s public assessment. A source familiar with the matter called her remarks about her successor “quite unsavory,” and argued that as a spokesperson tied to MAGA Inc. she is supposed to back the president’s endorsed candidates and hand-selected staff.
Leavitt’s reply on the substance was simpler: the job is hard, performance shows up under lights, and the next person has to be ready to fight.
Several figures have been discussed as possible replacements while Trump continues to weigh options. Internal names include White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly, who previously served as national press secretary for the Republican National Committee and worked on Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Outside and adjacent names in the conversation include CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings, a former communications director for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and adviser to former President George W. Bush. Jennings has said publicly that Trump should prioritize experience, credibility, and the ability to handle difficult exchanges. He has not confirmed he is seeking the job.
Others mentioned in reporting include former RNC spokeswoman and White House communications aide Danielle Alvarez; former Fox News anchor Monica Crowley, now the State Department’s chief of protocol; Katie Miller, a conservative podcast host, former press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, and wife of Stephen Miller; Hogan Gidley, who served as principal deputy press secretary in Trump’s first administration; and White House communications director Stephen Cheung.
Leavitt said she talks with Trump about what the job entails. She also said she will keep her private counsel to the president private. The final call remains his.
When Zacharia first stepped to the White House podium, the assignment looked like a clean handoff. Five days later, the podium is open again, and the search is about toughness under fire more than ceremony.
Leavitt has been clear that her own exit was about family, not fear. In October she rejected a rumor that she left over a security-related aircraft switch on a July trip to Turkey. Secret Service directed a plane change after officials identified a potential threat; journalists and some of the traveling party stayed on the original aircraft, per the president’s account.
Leavitt said she was not on that plane, was not on that trip, and was home with her kids. She added that every time you step on Air Force One, you know the risk of traveling with the president, and that threats come with the job.
Trump publicly supported her decision to leave and said she would remain a trusted outside adviser and an influential Republican voice. That framing matches the larger pattern: keep people who understand the fight close, even when the daily briefing-room grind is no longer theirs.
The press secretary post rewards stamina, policy fluency, loyalty, and a willingness to push back when the room turns nasty. Leavitt held it nearly two years. Zacharia’s five days showed how quickly the same job can reveal a poor fit. Trump now has to pick someone who can take the heat without flinching, and who will treat the briefing room as a battlefield for his agenda, not a stage for on-the-job training.
