New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia gave her first briefing on Tuesday and, come Wednesday morning, the hosts of “The View” were quick to roast her for it. But, hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin had an idea of where specifically it all went wrong.
Zacharia’s performance led the day’s Hot Topics, and host Alyssa Farah Griffin was quick to note that being press secretary for any governmental department is a tough job. That said, the ABC host wondered how Zacharia “got through the door.” Navarro argued that Zacharia meets most of the necessary traits to get the job, but also misses one key ability.
“You need to be able to lie, but you need to be able to lie with confidence, not looking nervous,” Navarro said. “And that’s where I think she is –”
“She went wrong,” Hostin finished.
“Yeah, she’s lacking,” Navarro agreed.
The women all agreed that speaking in public, particularly to a massive audience, can be daunting; they all have experience in that realm. But, it didn’t excuse Zacharia’s performance for them.
“I can relate to getting nervous and having stress. I talk on live TV. I know when the brain stops working with the mouth, I think we just lose our point,” Sara Haines sympathized. “I do understand that, but I have — it was only 14 minutes long. I have spent longer telling my kids we’re leaving the house than that briefing.”
“I have literally had bouts of hiccups that have lasted longer than this press conference. It was such a mess because it was 14 minutes long,” Navarro said. “She couldn’t read. I mean, there’s second graders that read at a higher level than she does. She couldn’t answer questions. These were questions that were from hand-picked, curated right-wing media outlets asking her softballs, and she couldn’t even answer those!”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
