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For months Donald Trump had been watching her on TV.
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Trump → publish → TV
Then, in a 72-hour whirlwind last week that blindsided his own West Wing, the president made conservative cable pundit Katie Zacharia his new press secretary.
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Zacharia → blindside → Wing
Trump appointed the 41-year-old mother of four without consulting his chief of staff Susie Wiles, four sources told the Daily Mail.
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sources → appoint → Mail
The vetting was so thin that he did not know she was the protégé of Corey Lewandowski, who was ousted from the administration in March.
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who → know → March
The hire may already have put one White House official on the chopping block, and it has stoked fears of a post-midterm purge among staff who watched the president act alone.
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president → put → staff
Karoline Leavitt's surprise departure at the end of August, just three months after the birth of her second child, had dealt a blow to the White House weeks before the midterm elections.
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departure → deal → elections
Wiles, who worked closely with Leavitt running Trump's spin operation, scrambled months earlier to find a replacement, and her favored pick was CNN's conservative commentator Scott Jennings.
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pick → work → replacement
White House insiders believed the decision would wait until after the midterms, with the president facing the prospect of losing the House and the Senate in one fell swoop.
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president → believe → swoop
But Trump had grown enamored with Zacharia's performances on his favorite channel, Fox News.
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Trump → grow → channel
The president decided he was done waiting for staff to find him someone.
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staff → decide → someone
He would do it himself.
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He → do → it
Trump had grown enamored with Zacharia's performances on his favorite channel, Fox News, before making her his new press secretary
Trump appointed the 41-year-old mother of four without consulting his chief of staff Susie Wiles, four sources told the Daily Mail
By Tuesday he was peppering staff with questions about Zacharia.
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he → grow → Zacharia
By Friday the decision was final and the story had leaked to the New York Times.
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story → leak → Times
White House insiders told the Daily Mail Wiles accepted she lost this personnel battle and one administration source called it the latest in a string of 'micro aggressions' from the president toward his chief of staff.
Zacharia's rise also comes at the expense of Richard Grenell, one of Trump's most feared loyalists, who once employed Zacharia but has been frozen out by her for nearly a year and was quietly pushing rival candidates for the podium.
Leavitt, for her part, gave the choice her blessing: 'I have no doubt Katie will do great work for President Trump and our country,' she wrote on X after the announcement.
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she → tell → announcement
Zacharia is a California native and Pepperdine-trained lawyer who has spent the past two years as one of the most reliably combative pro-Trump voices on Fox News and Newsmax.
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who → train → News
She is a self-described 'hardline Trump supporter' who has called him 'the greatest president in US history' in a New York Post op-ed and made headlines in February when her gym asked her to stop wearing her MAGA hat.
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gym → describe → hat
She has been married since 2011 to Tyler Zacharia and interned in George W. Bush's White House in 2006 before working on Trump's 2024 campaign in the swing states.
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She → marry → states
She is, in the words of one ally, straight out of central casting: polished, blonde and camera-ready, in the mold of the women who have held the job before her.
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who → hold → her
Zacharia is a California native and Pepperdine-trained lawyer who has spent the past two years as one of the most reliably combative pro-Trump voices on Fox News and Newsmax
She is, in the words of one ally, straight out of central casting: polished, blonde and camera-ready, in the mold of the women who have held the job before her
In February she was hired as the on-camera face of the Department of Homeland Security, defending Kristi Noem's immigration crackdown until she walked out six weeks later.
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she → train → crackdown
Since June she has been a communications adviser to Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, while her cable hits kept her on the president's screen night after night.
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hits → keep → night
Trump, who had met her in California, quizzed aides about her, three sources close to the president told the Daily Mail.
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sources → meet → Mail
Had they seen her clips?
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they → see → clips
Could she handle the podium?
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she → handle → podium
Did she have what it takes to be his next press secretary?
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it → have → what
As is his habit, Trump called around to trusted advisers, including Boris Epshteyn and Leavitt herself, to ask what they made of her.
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they → call → her
'Karoline, do you think she can do it?' he asked Leavitt, who gave Zacharia a glowing recommendation.
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who → think → recommendation
Then he picked up the phone himself.
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he → pick → phone
Zacharia was stunned when the president called her out of the blue to ask if she wanted the job, people close to her said, and she said yes on the spot.
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she → stun → spot
She had been on Fox News only the day before, praising Trump's push to fire up voters for the midterms.
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She → praise → midterms
Trump later confirmed it on Truth Social, calling her 'outstanding'.
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Trump → confirm → her
The hire comes seven months after Zacharia walked out of the Department of Homeland Security just six weeks into the job.
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Zacharia → come → job
She arrived at DHS in mid-February at the same time as Lauren Bis, who was brought in to replace Tricia McLaughlin as assistant secretary for public affairs.
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who → arrive → affairs
Zacharia, as deputy, was hired specifically to be the department's television voice, and she was handpicked by Lewandowski, Noem's chief adviser, sources said.
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sources → hire → Lewandowski
That patronage became a liability for Zacharia after Trump fired Noem and ousted Lewandowski in early March.
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Trump → become → March
The Daily Mail has contacted Lewandowski for comment.
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Mail → contact → comment
Zacharia no longer maintains a relationship with Richard Grenell, pictured above, and the pair have not spoken in nearly a year, a source close to her said.
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source → maintain → her
Grenell is a feared Trump loyalist
DHS insiders at the time branded her a 'Corey person', a characterization Zacharia denied
Zacharia's name landed on an unofficial blacklist of more than two dozen Noem loyalists circulating inside the department.
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name → fear → department
Bis played a role in pushing her out, making her job difficult and sidelining her from the television role she had been promised, a source close to the White House said.
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source → play → House
DHS insiders at the time branded her a 'Corey person', a characterization Zacharia denied.
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Zacharia → brand → her
She later said constant travel between Washington and her family in California had become untenable.
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travel → say → California
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
