By early Tuesday afternoon, Katie Zacharia was aboard Air Force One, bound for Alaska on her first official trip with the president.
She had stood at the White House podium only hours earlier. By then, reviews from inside Donald Trump’s orbit were already landing on reporters’ phones.
The president gave the shortest one. Reporters asked him about the briefing later in the day, and he answered: “I thought she was very good.”
The White House press office called the performance “commanding.” Spokesperson Steven Cheung added his own praise when the Daily Mail contacted him.
“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” he said. “She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary.”
Other people close to the president told a different story in text messages to the Daily Mail.
Zacharia, 41, took three questions on her second day as press secretary and left the room after 14 minutes, according to the outlet.
Sources said she stumbled over her prepared remarks, stuttered through several sentences and, at one point, called the president her husband.
She also made news herself. Zacharia told the Daily Mail that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as ambassador to Greece. Sources said the announcement caught the room off guard.
“I feel badly for her… her kids and family watching,” one source said. A senior Trump communications official called the briefing “terrible on so many different levels,” and a second official labeled it “embarrassing.”
A GOP communications expert replied with one dumpster fire emoji.
A senior administration official told the Daily Mail she should have stayed longer at the podium.
“She should have gone on longer and had substantive answers ready,” the official said. “She could barely read.”
Preparation emerged as the central question. More than half a dozen Trump officials told the Daily Mail they suspect Zacharia entered the briefing room with no preparation.
“She looked as if she was handed a sheet of paper at the last minute and wasn’t prepared properly,” a Trump world source said. “So who in the building wanted to see her fail?”
A White House insider raised the same concern in more sympathetic terms.
“Look, Katie has never done that before, and I think it’s insane for the press shop to just throw someone to the wolves like that,” the insider said. “But it always gets better.”
Her rise to the podium took days, not months.
Trump spent months watching her defend him on Fox News and Newsmax, then called her himself with a job offer. Three days later, a post on Truth Social announced the hire.
The Daily Mail previously reported that Trump made the move without consulting Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and without any vetting.
According to the outlet, the president also did not know that Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to Kristi Noem who was ousted in March, had handpicked Zacharia as a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman.
She served six weeks in that post before walking out in March.
Karoline Leavitt, 29, held the press secretary job before Zacharia and left ahead of the midterms. Trump consulted her about Zacharia before making the hire, according to the Daily Mail.
Another Trump world communications source said Leavitt is widely regarded as the best press secretary in a decade, which sets a steep standard for a successor.
That source added that Leavitt learned the job beside Trump during his presidential campaign, an experience Zacharia lacks.
David Litt, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, offered a Democratic take.
“If the White House’s goal is to make Karoline Leavitt look talented by comparison, then Katie Zacharia did an excellent job,” he told the Daily Mail.
A senior administration official delivered a darker forecast.
“Her hiring and the briefing shows this White House is collapsing now that they’re facing real pressure,” the official said. “They have no idea who to hire. We’re entering wartime and they’re completely unequipped.”
Some voices came to her defense.
A former Biden administration official told the Daily Mail the podium “is a contact sport and it’s live,” and said Zacharia earned credit for stepping up so early.
Sean Spicer, Trump’s first-term press secretary, also backed her.
“Serving as press secretary is one of the most demanding and intense positions bar none,” he told the Daily Mail. “I practiced for my first briefing for weeks and still had a tough first outing. Katie jumped into the briefing room after 24 hours on the job and held her own.”
The White House insider, who described Zacharia as a mother of four, called her “moldable and willing to grow.” The insider added: “She’s running the show now so somebody had better start prepping her.”
One insider noted that only the president’s opinion counts. Trump removed Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director ten days into the job in 2017.
