Trump Fires New White House Press Secretary in First Week on the Job

This story originally appeared on The Advocate.President Donald Trump fired White House press secretary Katie Zacharia on Friday after five days on the job, The New York Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.Neither Zacharia nor the White House responded to the newspaper’s requests for comment.The reported firing followed Trump’s public suggestion that she reconsider the position. It is a remarkable reversal from his praise of her debut just three days earlier.Related: White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia failed the California Bar examFrom appointment to scrutinyTrump announced Zacharia’s appointment October 9. She started Monday and delivered her first briefing Tuesday.As The Advocate reported, that appearance lasted about 14 minutes. Zacharia recognized reporters from three outlets, deferred a question about intelligence sharing with Ukraine, and mistakenly called her husband “my president.” She also announced that the administration had asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign.Trump initially offered an enthusiastic assessment: “I thought she did excellent. She did very good.”Asked where she passed the bar exam, she initially said in China; however, questions about her credentials intensified. Trump introduced her as an attorney, but reporting showed she failed the California bar exam. Zacharia said she was advised she could call herself a lawyer, but not an attorney.Fox interviews deepen the troubleOn Thursday night, Sean Hannity repeatedly pressed Zacharia for direct answers about her legal background. She acknowledged failing the bar and never retaking it, while defending her use of “lawyer.”By Friday morning, she was back on Fox. Asked whether she should have disclosed the failed exam to Trump, she said those questions had not been asked.“I’m being hired as White House press secretary and not White House counsel,” she said.When Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones asked whether she still