Trump Picks Katie Zacharia as White House Press Secretary — and the Briefing Room Has Been Empty Since September 3
Zacharia, briefly a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, would succeed Karoline Leavitt, who left the post in late August; no start date has been announced.
President Donald Trump has picked Katie Zacharia as the next White House press secretary, CBS News reported on October 9. The New York Times was first to report she had been offered the job. Zacharia is a California native who earned her degrees at Pepperdine University and worked briefly as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year; she is now a senior communications adviser for Truth Social.
Trump praised her “unblemished record of support” and called her a “loyal and brilliant supporter.” Her predecessor Karoline Leavitt left the post in late August; the text does not say where she went or why. In February Zacharia wrote in a New York Post op-ed that she would “never take my Trump hat off to appease the left.”
Meanwhile, the briefing room has not hosted a press briefing since September 3, when Vice President JD Vance took questions. When exactly Zacharia takes over has not been announced, and there are no reactions beyond statements from Trump and herself.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 11, 2026
