White House threatened to fire new press secretary after first briefing

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the first appearance of the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia. She was given to understand that, in the absence of noticeable improvements, she could lose her post. This was reported by the television channel MS Now.

A representative of the administration noted that Zacharia needs to improve her performance as quickly as possible. "Holding on at the podium is not easy. But she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to start doing much better quickly, otherwise she will break Scaramucci's record," he said.

This refers to Anthony Scaramucci, who in 2017 was dismissed from the post of White House communications director just ten days after his appointment.

Zacharia's first briefing lasted about 14 minutes. At the same time, less than five minutes were allotted for journalists' questions, and the press secretary managed to answer only three reporters.

Zacharia explained the brevity of the meeting by Donald Trump's tight schedule, as he was preparing to depart for Alaska. However, the time of the president's departure did not coincide with the holding of the briefing.

Trump himself did not criticize the new staffer and, on the contrary, stated that she had conducted the meeting with journalists "very well."