Trump Appoints Katie Zacharia as New White House Press Secretary
US President Donald Trump announced that conservative commentator Katie Zacharia will take office as the new White House press secretary on Columbus Day, following the departure of Karoline Leavitt at the end of August, according to reporting confirmed across multiple outlets including The Daily Telegraph.
Zacharia Holds First News Conference at White House
Zacharia will deliver her first introductory news conference on Tuesday at 9:30 A.M. from the Press Briefing Room in the White House, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump highlighted Zacharia’s work for Truth Social, the Trump Media & Technology Group, and her frequent appearances on Fox News and Newsmax. Zacharia previously served briefly as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security from February to March 2026, and also worked as a legal adviser for Fix California, a conservative group founded by Richard Grenell.
Zacharia Spread Misinformation About Election and Abortion Pill
Zacharia has a documented history of spreading misinformation, including election denialism and an extreme claim linking the abortion pill mifepristone to Nazi concentration camps. In November 2025, Zacharia posted on X that mifepristone is connected to the manufacturer of the gas Zyklon B used in World War II concentration camps. While Roussel-Uclaf developed the pill, it was acquired decades later by Hoechst AG, and the drug was approved by the FDA in 2000 with no direct operational link to Nazi-era manufacturers.
Parallel Probes and Unverified Financial Bets
The Daily Telegraph reported that US authorities are probing five TV networks over what has been termed brazen intimidation, while separate reports from The Hill indicate that prediction market platform Kalshi is investigating suspicious betting patterns tied directly to the White House press secretary selection process. These concurrent federal and platform-level inquiries unfold as Zacharia officially steps into her new communications role.
