WASHINGTON — “I’d like to do news hits morning and evening.”
Katie Zacharia sent that message to a White House official Wednesday morning, according to text messages reviewed by Breitbart News.
She followed with two more lines: “If you could book those m-f” and “To the extent possible.”
The exchange came a day before Zacharia sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity. It also
bears directly on a Politico account of how that interview came together.
Politico published a story Oct. 16 under the headline “Susie Wiles helped set up Fox interview ahead of press secretary’s exit.”
The piece reported that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles played a role in arranging Zacharia’s Thursday appearance.
A White House official told Breitbart News that Politico had already obtained text messages from the White House before it ran the story.
According to the official, those messages indicated Zacharia herself initiated the booking.
A second thread dates to Tuesday afternoon, hours after Zacharia finished a press briefing.
In it, a Fox News producer relayed that Zacharia had offered to appear on Hannity that night.
“Katie said she can join us from the rally tonight,” the producer wrote.
President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak at a rally in Alaska that same evening. A White House official answered the producer with “I don’t believe the timing works.”
That official then explained the conflict. Trump would either be speaking during the hour Hannity’s show airs, 9 p.m. Eastern, or would have just wrapped up.
The interview did not happen that night.
Zacharia appeared on Hannity on Thursday. Trump offered her an off-ramp from the press secretary post the next day, ending a tenure that lasted five days.
Politico’s article does not reference the text messages.
It draws instead on anonymous sources. One of them claimed Wiles and White House spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez “fed” Zacharia to Hannity.
The White House official also described a conversation with a Politico reporter.
In that account, the reporter conceded that editors would not remove Wiles from the story because she was the “hook.”
The Oct. 16 article was the latest in a run of Politico coverage on the subject. The first piece reported that Trump was considering replacing Wiles with one of five people.
Trump rejected the report and called the narrative “bullshit.” He gave Politico an on-the-record statement, which the outlet published in its article.
“TOTAL FAKE NEWS Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism — it’s why I kicked them out of the White House!” the president said. “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff — there is a reason for that. She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Politico’s second piece followed up on the first.
It claimed the original story triggered a “freakout” in the West Wing after Executive and Special Assistant to the President Natalie Harp printed it to show Trump.
The White House official disputed the sequence. Trump had already contributed a comment to the story said to have caused the “freakout.”
According to the official, Politico’s reporters knew the president had been briefed before publication, because the White House and Trump worked with reporters to handle the inquiry.
Politico published the “freakout” story regardless.
The official then offered a broader assessment of the outlet in a statement to Breitbart News.
“These latest hit jobs expose the disgraceful direction of Politico under its new leadership which prioritizes sensational headlines and clickbait over facts and journalistic integrity,” the official said. “Once a serious news outlet, Politico has devolved into a personality-driven tabloid that peddles gossip, anonymous smears, and manufactured drama.”
The official closed with a final line: “Sensationalism has replaced substance, personal attacks have replaced reporting, and journalistic integrity is nonexistent. Politico is sacrificing its credibility for cheap clicks and it’s shameful.”
