Trump’s chief of staff allegedly helped set up Katie Zacharia’s Fox News interview that was so disastrous she left the role hours later
Donald Trump’s most senior aide allegedly helped to set up a tough Fox News interview with the new White House press secretary in what has been described as a “sanctioned hit”.
Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, helped set up Katie Zacharia’s appearance on Thursday night, when the embattled new press secretary struggled to answer questions about her rocky first days on the job, those familiar with the internal dynamics told The Telegraph and Politico.
She departed the role just hours later.
The interview with Sean Hannity descended into a pointed examination of Mrs Zacharia’s first press briefing and her legal credentials amid questions over whether she had misrepresented herself as an attorney, despite never passing the bar exam.
One source described the appearance as a “sanctioned hit” on Mrs Zacharia, who was not Ms Wiles’s preferred choice to replace Karoline Leavitt.
A second person familiar with the matter noted that Ms Wiles and Mr Hannity are close, adding: “[White House spokesperson] Danielle [Alvarez] and Susie fed her to Hannity,” .
A senior White House official said: “Susie and Sean do talk, but Susie did not need to feed [Mrs Zacharia] to Sean or anybody else. It’s not her style.”
They added: “And Hannity wasn’t the nail in her coffin; her hit this morning was, as well as her weird answer on being a lawyer.”
Mrs Zacharia declined to comment, but confirmed her exit on X and said it was an “honor” to work with Mr Trump.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, described the reporting on Ms Wiles’s involvement as “speculation”.
“All of this breathless speculation is just that – speculation. And it’s fiction that’s not even creative,” Mr Cheung said.
“Katie took on a very important job, and she will continue to support the president as she transitions to a new role. She is an amazing teammate and tremendous talent.”
‘She did herself in’
Fox News insiders pushed back on the idea of a kill order or “sanctioned” hit.
“It was clear by the end of this week that she did herself in with her own performance, a Fox News source said. “If you can’t answer simple questions about your credentials, that speaks volumes.”
A spokesman for Fox News Media said in a statement that Mr Hannity decides who he interviews and what questions he asks.
“That’s been true for three decades, through several administrations, and that authenticity is why he’s been No 1 for nearly 30 years,” the statement said.
Mrs Zacharia’s firing comes amid broader turmoil inside the West Wing. Mr Trump criticised Wiles confidant James Blair and Chris LaCavita, a former top aide, over their work in the Balkans advising a pro-Russia regime’s reelection effort.
As Mr Trump’s prospects in the midterms become increasingly worse, the US president has reportedly solicited allies’ views of Ms Wiles and mused about possible replacements for his top aide.
Mr Trump’s popularity is near record lows, and, according to recent polls, his party is in real danger of losing both the House of Representatives and the Senate, rendering him a lame duck for the remaining two years of his term.
Voters are furious and once-loyal Republicans are distancing themselves from the president.
The blame game is in full swing, and staffers are turning on one another in ways reminiscent of the backstabbing that came to characterise Mr Trump’s first term.
Mr Hannity told Mrs Zacharia that her briefing from the podium was “widely panned”, noting it lasted just 14 minutes and included only three questions. He asked her directly whether she had failed the bar exam, which Mrs Zacharia confirmed.
‘Katie couldn’t manage to answer a basic question’
Mr Hannity also pressed her on social media posts identifying her as an attorney. Mrs Zacharia claimed they were reposts and insisted that she had not meant to endorse the title and that she had consulted legal professionals who told her she could call herself a “lawyer”.
In the US, someone can refer to themselves as an attorney only if they have passed the bar, although people with a law degree are permitted to refer to themselves as lawyers. Yet when Mr Trump announced her appointment to his administration on Friday, he called her an “attorney”.
“Not only is Fox News home turf for us, but Katie couldn’t manage to answer a basic question about herself that had been brewing in the news for three days,” a source said.
The interview followed Mrs Zacharia’s bumpy first White House press conference.
But it was a question that a reporter shouted upon departure from the White House that set off a three-day news cycle about her qualifications: “You said she’s an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam?”
Mrs Zacharia answered: “When I moved to China,” and only later acknowledged that she had failed the California bar exam in 2011 and had not retaken it. She told The New York Times that she had misheard the question.
On Friday, Mr Trump said he had told Mrs Zacharia to reconsider whether she wanted to remain as press secretary.
“She was on Sean Hannity last night. And Sean was a little bit tough,” Mr Trump told reporters. “I saw she was on Fox and Friends this morning. They were a little tough.”
He said he had told her: “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” This was Mrs Zacharia’s second short stint in the Trump administration.
Earlier this year, she spent less than two months working at the department of homeland security.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/10/17/susie-wiles-ordered-katie-zacharia-sanctioned-hit/