This morning, new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia kicked off her first White House press briefing, calling it an “honor” to serve President Donald Trump.
She takes over from her predecessor, Karoline Leavitt, who left the White House in August to spend more time with her young children.
Those were big shoes to fill, but Zacharia wasted no time making her mark.
Here were the biggest moments from her first briefing.
Zacharia stepped up to the White House podium for the first time and opened with a cheerful “Good morning!”
She immediately went full MAGA, thanking President Trump for his trust and making it clear that working for him has been a longtime goal.
ZACHARIA: “I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House Press Secretary.”
“I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted to work for him for a VERY long time.”
“I’m looking forward to working with each of you as well.”
Moments after greeting the press pool, Zacharia came out swinging with some eye-popping numbers on government fraud uncovered by the Trump administration.
According to the new press secretary, the administration has uncovered more than $260 billion in fraud, stopped another $72 billion in annual fraud through administrative actions, and recovered nearly $59 billion through indictments, settlements, and civil monetary penalties.
ZACHARIA: “Not only is the Trump administration bringing in trillions of dollars to invest throughout the country, but we are also protecting your tax dollars by addressing fraud head-on.”
“Since taking office, the Trump administration has uncovered over $260 billion dollars of fraud, stopped $72 billion dollars of fraud annually through administrative actions and recovered $58.9 billion through indictments, settlements and civil monetary penalties.”
These were huge numbers, and Zacharia made sure the press corps heard them loud and clear during her first appearance behind the podium.
A reporter then asked Zacharia whether she planned to continue Karoline Leavitt’s efforts to open the White House briefing room to new media voices.
Her answer was pitch perfect.
Not only did she heap praise on her predecessor, but she vowed to continue Leavitt’s efforts to expand access to the White House for new voices.
REPORTER: “One of the things that your predecessor Karoline Leavitt did is open this room up to more voices, not less.”
“Can you tell us what you plan to do to continue ensure that new media voices continue to be heard here at the White House?”
ZACHARIA: “Well, firstly, my predecessor Karoline Leavitt did an incredible job and I completely agree with the choice of the new media seat.”
“We are absolutely going to keep it and we’re going expand on it to the extent possible.”
“We love new media, and we want to be able to embrace it.”
This is a major win for independent journalism. No longer can the entire narrative be hijacked by the elites in the mainstream media.
Toward the end of the briefing, a reporter asked Zacharia about her family and specifically how she would handle the demanding role of press secretary with four children at home.
Zacharia turned the question into an opportunity to explain why family remains at the center of her life, delivering one of the briefing’s most powerful pro-family messages.
REPORTER: “Your family’s in California, your husband, you have four children. I’m wondering how you are going to manage that? Karoline Leavitt left because she wanted to spend more time with her family, and also, did you give any advice on how to handle this job and the people in this room?”
ZACHARIA: “Well, first of all, I want to give my husband an amazing shout out. We have four kids — so we have a handful and I adore my family. I love them, they are my priority, I love being with my kids. The idea of not spending evenings with my kid is kids are is completely unacceptable.”
Zacharia went on to explain that Leavitt had been an incredible source of support as she prepared to take on the role, offering advice on navigating the demands of the job while making time for her children.
“Yes, Karoline has been an incredible support. She gave me great and wonderful feedback on how to balance. I think this job is not one you necessarily balance, and I would love to share that in my career I stayed home with my kids from 2014 to 2020, and in the process of having them, and then when I started working again, I was able to integrate them into my life.”
She praised President Trump for being “the most family-friendly president” the United States has ever had. Zacharia pointed out that Trump knew she had four children and understood how demanding the press secretary role would be, yet still trusted her to take on the responsibility.
“So I intend to, to the extent possible, include my family, include my kids in my work. Though my work will be demanding, they will always be a priority.”
“President Trump is 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 being able to step up to that.”
It was a strong closing message from Zacharia.
She made it clear that her family will always come first while expressing gratitude for a president who trusted her to take on one of the most visible and demanding jobs in his administration.
Naturally, feminists will complain about Katie because she’s very pretty. They’ll undoubtedly say some idiotic sexist things about her, and even suggest it should be a man’s job.
That said, the only question I have about all the fraud discovery and recovery is when will it all show up in the annual budget and the annual deficit, which both should be reduced by the amount of the fraud, right?
Sorry but she is more of an embarrassment than anything. Since when did the office of Press secretary become a beauty pageant? And why does it have to be a woman, even in the Trump administration? Really sexist in my estimation. Scott Jennings would have been much much better.