Katie Zacharia, the shortest-serving White House press secretary in U.S. history, denied reports claiming she was angling for her job back, blasting them as “utterly fake.”
The former Trump staffer took to X on Monday and made it clear that she was not trying to convince new White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to reinstate her as press secretary.
“We’ve reached the point where @TMZ is correcting DC beltway lies from ‘anonymous sources,’” Zacharia wrote on X, alongside a link to an article highlighting her denial. “Reporters and outlets pushing abject falsehoods from anonymous sources are complicit in the fake news machine—and a big reason Americans no longer trust the media.”
For anyone still wondering whether she hoped to rejoin the Trump administration, she added: “I’m not auditioning for the role. Claims that I’m trying to get my old job back as President Trump’s White House Press Secretary are utterly fake.”
While Zacharia’s replacement has yet to be named in the three weeks since her ousting, the Trump administration has playfully toyed with the idea of bringing on a notable name to serve as press secretary. Ahead of the midterm elections, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung cheekily teased Nicki Minaj as the administration’s next press secretary, sharing footage of the rap star trying her hand at giving a press briefing.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have found the new White House Press Secretary,” Cheung wrote on X at the time. Though the Trump team wasn’t serious about appointing Minaj to the role, it didn’t stop them from milking the moment. Trump even told one outlet that making Minaj the press secretary was “a good idea.”
The president made headlines again on Saturday after he took to Truth Social and asked Dana White, the president and CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), to be his new press secretary.
“I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States,” he wrote. “I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harris. We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left. Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!”
Yet, on Monday, White joined Trump for an appearance in the briefing room, where the president clarified his post was just a joke.
“We were having a very bad press day, and I said, I don’t know why, I thought of his name, he’s been my friend for a long time, I said, ‘You know, I think I’m going to get Dana White to be my new press secretary,’” Trump told the press corps. “I said it to a group of the press, and that was it.”
However, Trump seemingly misremembered that he did not say it to a select group of press, but posted the offer on his own social media account.
“I was sort of kidding. And then they wrote the stories as if I wasn’t kidding, and you were inundated and I was inundated,” Trump continued. “He was here anyway, we thought we’d have a little fun and we brought Dana here.”
Nonetheless, White formally turned down the post, telling Trump and the press on Monday that he does “not want to be in politics.”
