Trump picks conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to be next press secretary

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
The Guardian · collected 2026-10-09 · by Shrai Popat in Washington

Quick Summary

Donald Trump has selected conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary, according to a White House official cited by The New York Times. Zacharia previously worked at the Department of Homeland Security and currently serves as a communications adviser for Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social. It remains uncertain if she has formally accepted the position.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Donald Trump has chosen Katie Zacharia, a conservative commentator and former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, to be the new White House press secretary. This follows the resignation of Karoline Leavitt in late August when she left to spend more time with her two young children after giving birth to her second child. Zacharia currently works as a communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, Trump's social media platform. The role has been vacant since early September, and it is not yet clear if Zacharia has officially accepted the position.

Written for “Trump Picks Zacharia Press Secretary” on 2026-10-09, grounded in this article and the 10 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 69086 · logged 2026-10-09

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
5
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
20%
1 of 5 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
68.5
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
11
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-10-09 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Trump Picks Zacharia Press Secretary
Politics · 11 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 20% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Trump picks Katie Zacharia as next White House press secretary same event · 100%
CBS News · 0.97 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 14% hedged 2 of 14 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles report on Donald Trump choosing Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary on the same date, with the same context of replacing Karoline Leavitt.”
Katie Zacharia ‘offered’ position as White House press secretary same event · 100%
Al Jazeera · 0.97 cosine similarity
⚖️ Centre 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on Donald Trump selecting Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, at the same date and time.”
Commentator Katie Zacharia picked as new White House press secretary same event · 100%
BBC News · 0.96 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 22% hedged 2 of 9 📰 publisher trust 72
“Both articles report on the identical event of Katie Zacharia being chosen as the new White House press secretary, at the same time and place.”
White House Taps Katie Zacharia to Replace Karoline Leavitt as Press Secretary same event · 100%
TIME · 0.95 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 20% hedged 1 of 5 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the same day about Katie Zacharia being selected to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary.”
Katie Zacharia offered role as White House Press Secretary same event · 100%
Fox News · 0.95 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 5 📰 publisher trust 70
“Both articles report on Katie Zacharia being selected for the position of White House Press Secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, and cite similar details about her background.”
Trump has picked a replacement for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt same event · 100%
The Independent · 0.93 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 8% hedged 1 of 12 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on Donald Trump selecting Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, and cite The New York Times as the first source of this news.”
Who is Katie Zacharia, Trump’s next White House press secretary? same event · 100%
Washington Examiner · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 14% hedged 3 of 21 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles report on Donald Trump selecting Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt.”
Trump taps Kristi Noem's ex mouthpiece Katie Zacharia to replace Karoline Leavitt for White House press secretary same event · 100%
Daily Mail · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 20% hedged 1 of 5 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles report on Donald Trump's selection of Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt.”
Former Truth Social communications adviser offered White House press secretary role same event · 95%
ABC News (AU) · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 3 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles report on the same specific offer made to Katie Zacharia by the White House for the position of press secretary, with the same context and timing.”
Katie Zacharia offered White House press secretary job same event · 95%
ABC News (US) · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on Katie Zacharia being chosen/selected/offered the role of White House press secretary, with Karoline Leavitt having left previously.”

Publisher

The Guardian · 1574 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Shrai Popat in Washington
5 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Zacharia would replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August after the birth to her second child.
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · Trump picks conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to be next press secretary
🔮 Field, who joined the FBI in May 2016, also alleges that Trump reportedly viewed a TikTok video of protesters in Alhambra, California that alerted neighbors about the presence of federal immigration officers and advised them of their legal rights.
2026-10-06 · assertive framing · Whistleblower suit alleges Trump ordered FBI investigation on LA anti-ICE protesters
🔮 We are now five weeks out. What do you feel have been, and will continue to be, the defining issues of these midterm races?
2026-09-27 · assertive framing · What Democrats are getting right – and wrong – in run-up to midterms: ‘We can’t just be anti-Trump’
🔮 The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, announced on Wednesday that he would again cancel votes scheduled for Thursday, sending lawmakers home one day early ahead of the midterm election recess.
2026-09-16 · assertive framing · House speaker sending lawmakers home early ahead of US midterm election recess
🔮 Timmaraju will join Jackson on Wednesday in Brunswick for the launch of the campaign’s Women for Troy coalition.
2026-08-26 · assertive framing · Abortion rights group endorses Democrat Troy Jackson in critical Maine Senate race
Also by Shrai Popat in Washington
Whistleblower suit alleges Trump ordered FBI investigation on LA anti-ICE protesters
2026-10-06 · The Guardian
What Democrats are getting right – and wrong – in run-up to midterms: ‘We can’t just be anti-Trump’
2026-09-27 · The Guardian
House speaker sending lawmakers home early ahead of US midterm election recess
2026-09-16 · The Guardian
Abortion rights group endorses Democrat Troy Jackson in critical Maine Senate race
2026-08-26 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

The New York Times Truth Social White House the Department of Homeland Security the Trump Media and Technology Group

Subjects

Zacharia PERSON · 3× White House ORG · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Karoline Leavitt PERSON · 1× Katie Zacharia PERSON · 1× The New York Times ORG · 1× Truth Social ORG · 1× the Department of Homeland Security ORG · 1× the Trump Media and Technology Group ORG · 1×

Narrative

Zacharia previously worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, and now serves as a communications adviser for the Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, the president’s social network.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-09
🔮 Zacharia would replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August after the birth to her second child.
2026-10-09 · The Guardian
Trump picks conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to be next press secretary · assertive framing

Claims (5 extracted, 1 hedged)

Donald Trump has chosen the conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, according to a White House official. uncertain
Trump → choose → official
Zacharia would replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August after the birth to her second child. asserted
who → replace → child
The New York Times was first to report that Zacharia has been selected for the role. asserted
Zacharia → report → role
It was not immediately clear whether she has accepted the position. asserted
she → accept → position
Zacharia previously worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, and now serves as a communications adviser for the Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, the president’s social network. asserted
which → work → Social
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