President Donald Trump has appointed Katie Zacharia as the next White House press secretary. She will replace Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August following the birth of her second child.
Trump announced the appointment on Truth Social on Friday, Oct. 9, praising Zacharia’s experience and longtime support for his political movement.
“It is my Great Honor to have just appointed, as Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia,” Trump wrote.
The president said Zacharia had worked on his previous campaigns, helping secure victories in key battleground states.
“She was previously involved in my Campaigns, assisting in key Swing States, where we won 7 out of 7,” Trump wrote, according to the New York Post.
He described Zacharia as a loyal supporter with a strong record of backing his administration.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday, Trump also expressed confidence in his new press secretary.
He said Zacharia had a good relationship with members of the media and predicted she would perform well in the position.
Zacharia responded to the announcement on X, thanking Trump for the opportunity to serve and describing the appointment as the “honor of a lifetime.”
“I look forward to working with the White House press corps, and with reporters across the country, to get that record out,” she wrote.
She also praised her predecessor, saying that following Leavitt would set a high standard.
Zacharia brings experience in political communications, conservative media and Republican politics to the position.
Since June, she has served as a senior communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Earlier this year, she briefly worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security under former Secretary Kristi Noem.
Zacharia has also appeared as a political commentator on Fox News and Newsmax. She previously served as legal counsel for Fix California, a conservative organization founded by Trump special envoy Richard Grenell.
Her political career began with an internship at the Republican National Committee in 2006. She later worked in the White House during President George W. Bush’s second term and earned a law degree from Pepperdine University.
Zacharia also spent several years living in Beijing and has publicly criticized the Chinese Communist Party.
Leavitt left the White House in August to spend more time with her family after welcoming her second child in May.
She had served as press secretary since the beginning of Trump’s second administration. Leavitt is now scheduled to join Fox News as a contributor on Nov. 1.
Since her departure, the White House has held relatively few formal press briefings.
Zacharia’s appointment also comes as Trump has expressed frustration with his administration’s ability to communicate its accomplishments ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Speaking at an event earlier this month, Trump criticized the administration’s public relations efforts, arguing that its achievements were not receiving sufficient attention.
As the new press secretary, Zacharia will become one of the administration’s most visible public representatives, responsible for communicating White House policies and answering questions from reporters.