‘My president, I mean my husband’: Trump's new press secretary Katie Zacharia's first briefing goes off the rails in 14 minutes

White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia abruptly ended her first appearance in the James Brady Briefing Room on Tuesday morning after just 14 minutes, following an uncomfortable debut marked by prepared remarks, unanswered questions and a verbal slip that left reporters laughing. Zacharia, whom President Donald Trump named on Friday to succeed Karoline Leavitt, faced the White House press corps for the first time on her second day in the role. She started by expressing her enthusiasm for working with Trump, telling reporters she was ‘so honoured’ to serve under him and had wanted to work for him for a very long time.

She then spent approximately six minutes reading from prepared remarks praising the president and highlighting what she described as his administration’s achievements. Her comments included a reference to a ‘historic one-day war’ against Venezuela, even as the conflict with Iran approached its ninth month, according to the account. When the question-and-answer session started, Zacharia appeared to follow a prepared list of media outlets written on a note card. The list was photographed by a photographer positioned above the press secretary’s lectern.

Her first question went to a reporter from Breitbart News, a right-wing outlet whose correspondent occupied a seat previously repurposed by Leavitt for ‘new media’ organizations generally considered friendly to the administration.

Zacharia next called on Fox News, who asked whether the United States had suspended intelligence-sharing with Ukraine amid Trump’s latest confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The new press secretary could not provide an immediate answer, telling Doocy she’d have to get back to [him] on that.

A correspondent from the Daily Mail was next. The reporter asked whether Trump was still considering removing Kimberly Guilfoyle from her position as ambassador to Greece following a series of embarrassing headlines about her conduct before and during her time in Athens. Zacharia offered a significant revelation, telling reporters that Trump had indeed asked Guilfoyle, a former Fox News presenter and former fiancée of the president’s eldest son, to resign from the diplomatic post.

However, it was a follow-up question about Zacharia’s family life that turned the briefing into an awkward moment. The Daily Mail reporter asked how she planned to manage the demanding press secretary position while raising four children, particularly after her predecessor reportedly chose to resign because of the challenges of balancing the job with caring for two children. Zacharia struggled to respond. “The idea of not spending evenings with my kid kids are is completely unacceptable,” she said before mistakenly referring to Trump as her husband. “So my president, excuse me, my husband, is out here,” she said.

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The remark prompted laughter in the briefing room as Zacharia attempted to regain her composure and return to praising the president. She described Trump as the most family-friendly president we've ever had. “He has hired more women with families, and the fact that he knew I had four kids and he knew that this job would be demanding, and still placed his trust in me, shows that I know I'm capable of being able to step up to that,” she said.

Despite the criticism, the White House publicly defended the new press secretary. White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung praised her performance in a post on X, calling the debut ‘a tremendous start’. “She commanded the room and effectively reminded the American people of all the great work President Trump and his Administration has done thus far,” Cheung added.