Even Scaramucci wonders if Katie Zacharia will make it to his 11-day run as press secretary

Read the original at The Independent ↗
Cite

Keller, E. (2026, October 14). Even Scaramucci wonders if Katie Zacharia will make it to his 11-day run as press secretary. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/scaramucci-reacts-katie-zacharia-press-secretary-b3066637.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-10-14 · by Erin Keller

Quick Summary

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who held his position for just 11 days, commented on the debut of current press secretary Katie Zacharia, noting that her initial briefing lasted only 14 minutes and became a target of online mockery. Scaramucci shared memes comparing Zacharia’s potential short tenure to the shelf life of lettuce, originally used to critique former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss who resigned after 49 days in office. Despite the humor, he clarified that he hopes Zacharia succeeds, even as she faces scrutiny over her legal credentials and whether she is licensed to practice law.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-14, 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

As of October 14, 2026, Katie Zacharia made her debut as the new White House press secretary under President Donald Trump, lasting only 14 minutes. Her first briefing drew criticism from Democrats, left-wing commentators, and even some within the White House who felt she was unprepared for the role. Zacharia, a conservative commentator and lawyer, had previously worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security before joining Trump Media & Technology Group, where she served as a communications adviser for Truth Social.

Zacharia replaced Karoline Leavitt, who left in August after nearly two years to spend more time with her children. Trump announced Zacharia's appointment on October 9, according to multiple news sources including The Guardian and Mail Online. Despite the initial skepticism from both supporters and critics, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended Zacharia, stating she was "uniquely qualified" and would inform Americans about President Trump’s accomplishments.

The press secretary role is often challenging due to President Trump's frequent self-communication and his tense relationship with the media, making it difficult for successors to leave a lasting impression.

Written for “Katie Zacharia Hired As Press Secretary” on 2026-10-14, grounded in this article and the 35 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 79535 · logged 2026-10-14

Story

📰 Katie Zacharia Hired As Press Secretary
Politics · 36 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Katie Zacharia makes her debut as White House press secretary same event · 100%
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⚖️ Leans left 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 45 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe Katie Zacharia's inaugural press briefing on the same day.”
Katie Zacharia offered role as White House Press Secretary different event · 95%
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 5 📰 publisher trust 70
“Article A reports on Katie Zacharia being offered the role of White House Press Secretary, while Article B discusses her performance and tenure as the press secretary after she had already taken up the position.”
Katie Zacharia ‘offered’ position as White House press secretary different event · 95%
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Centre 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article A reports on Katie Zacharia being offered the position of White House press secretary, while Article B discusses her debut as press secretary and speculation about her tenure.”
White House Taps Katie Zacharia to Replace Karoline Leavitt as Press Secretary different event · 95%
TIME
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 20% hedged 1 of 5 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article A reports Katie Zacharia's selection as White House Press Secretary, while Article B discusses speculations about her tenure following an initial briefing.”
Trump picks Katie Zacharia as next White House press secretary different event · 95%
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 14% hedged 2 of 14 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different stages of Katie Zacharia's tenure as White House press secretary, not the same specific moment or incident.”
Former Truth Social communications adviser offered White House press secretary role different event · 95%
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 3 📰 publisher trust 61
“Article A describes Katie Zacharia being offered the White House press secretary role, while Article B discusses Anthony Scaramucci's comments about Zacharia's performance after she has already taken on the position.”
Who is Katie Zacharia, Trump’s next White House press secretary? different event · 95%
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 14% hedged 3 of 21 📰 publisher trust 68
“Article A discusses Katie Zacharia's appointment as White House press secretary, while Article B speculates about her performance and longevity in the role following a debut briefing.”
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The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 14% hedged 3 of 22 📰 publisher trust 59
“Article A describes Trump's announcement of Katie Zacharia as press secretary, while Article B discusses speculation about her tenure following a debut that was considered rocky.”
Meet glamorous lawyer and married mom-of-four Katie Zacharia who's taking over as White House Press Secretary different event · 95%
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 38 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles describe different phases of Katie Zacharia's tenure as White House Press Secretary, with Article A announcing her appointment and Article B commenting on her performance after a few days.”
Sean Spicer's advice for new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia different event · 95%
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different moments related to Katie Zacharia's role as White House press secretary, with Article A focusing on Sean Spicer's advice before her first briefing and Article B discussing Anthony Scaramucci's comments about her debut performance.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
29
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
14%
4 of 29 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
36
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 5 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Erin Keller
39 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Even Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who lasted just 11 days on the job, is wondering whether press secretary Katie Zacharia could outlast his dubious record after her rocky Tuesday debut.
2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Even Scaramucci wonders if Katie Zacharia will make it to his 11-day run as press secretary
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🔮 I said it may not be presidential, but I won the election in a landslide,” he said.
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🔮 The incident came a day after ICE agents shot a man in his car in New York City with his 5-year-old son sitting in the backseat, sparking waves of protests and prompting Mayor Zohran Mamdani to demand that President Donald Trump remove the agents from his city.
2026-10-10 · mixed framing · Off-duty ICE agent shot by father after being found sleeping on California family’s lawn
🔮 “I could lose everything because of someone’s careless act.
2026-10-10 · assertive framing · Mom says thieves stole her purse with life-saving medicine from back of son’s wheelchair at Texas State Fair
🔮 The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the arch’s design in May, despite widespread public opposition.
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · Virginia county sues to stop Trump from building his beloved triumphal arch
🔮 A violent Iowa fugitive cooked up a new life as a San Diego chef, even appearing on local TV under an alias, until his nearly 14-year run ended this week. Brian Anthony Williams, 50, was arrested without incident Tuesday at a business in San Diego’s Mission Beach neighborhood, where authorities say he had been living as “Troy Williams” and working as a chef at a local Caribbean restaurant, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Williams had been wanted since October 2012 in connection with the alleged kidnapping, assault and shooting of a woman in Davenport, Iowa.
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Also by Erin Keller
SS United States finally learns when it will be sent to the bottom of the sea after years-long fight
2026-10-13 · The Independent
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2026-10-10 · The Independent
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2026-10-10 · The Independent
Mom says thieves stole her purse with life-saving medicine from back of son’s wheelchair at Texas State Fair
2026-10-10 · The Independent
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 39 articles by Erin Keller →

Topics

British Independent Independent Membership White House the White House

Subjects

Scaramucci PERSON · 11× Zacharia PERSON · 8× Trump PERSON · 4× White House ORG · 3× the White House GPE · 2× Anthony Scaramucci PERSON · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Independent NORP · 1× Independent Membership ORG · 1× Katie Zacharia PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Scaramucci, who briefly served in President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2017, took to X to weigh in on Zacharia’s 14-minute inaugural press briefing in the James Brady Briefing Room, which quickly became a target of online mockery.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-14
🔮 Even Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who lasted just 11 days on the job, is wondering whether press secretary Katie Zacharia could outlast his dubious record after her rocky Tuesday debut.
2026-10-14 · The Independent
Even Scaramucci wonders if Katie Zacharia will make it to his 11-day run as press secretary · assertive framing

Claims (29 extracted, 4 hedged)

Even Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who lasted just 11 days on the job, is wondering whether press secretary Katie Zacharia could outlast his dubious record after her rocky Tuesday debut. uncertain
Zacharia → last → debut
Scaramucci, who briefly served in President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2017, took to X to weigh in on Zacharia’s 14-minute inaugural press briefing in the James Brady Briefing Room, which quickly became a target of online mockery. asserted
which → serve → mockery
“The clock is running,” Scaramucci wrote, sharing a throwback video of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer in the briefing room. asserted
Scaramucci → run → room
“Thus far 1/11th of a Scaramucci,” he added, referencing his own notoriously short tenure. asserted
he → add → tenure
Trump appointed Scaramucci on July 21, 2017, but his time in the White House quickly unraveled. asserted
time → appoint → House
He clashed with then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who resigned days later, and made candid remarks to a reporter without first establishing that their conversation was off the record. asserted
conversation → clash → record
Trump fired Scaramucci days later on July 31. asserted
Trump → fire → July
Zacharia’s debut went viral, but for less flattering reasons. asserted
debut → go → reasons
She appeared to confuse Trump with her husband during the briefing and took just three questions from right-wing reporters before ending the session. asserted
She → appear → session
Despite poking fun at Zacharia’s rough start, Scaramucci pushed back against the suggestion that he was rooting for her to fail to protect his record. asserted
her → poke → record
After one X user suggested he might be “happy” about her performance because she could soon surpass his brief time in the White House, Scaramucci replied: “Not me. uncertain
Scaramucci → suggest → House
I hope she makes it.” asserted
she → hope → it
Scaramucci later joined in on a viral joke comparing Zacharia’s tenure to the shelf life of a head of lettuce. asserted
Scaramucci → join → lettuce
The meme recalls the 2022 internet challenge that tracked whether former British Prime Minister Liz Truss would remain in office longer than a head of lettuce before it wilted. asserted
it → recall → lettuce
Truss resigned after just 49 days. asserted
Truss → resign → days
Sharing an image of Zacharia next to a head of lettuce, Scaramucci wrote: “I want her to get past the lettuce.” asserted
her → share → lettuce
He continued to defend his comments Wednesday after another X user urged him to “have some class” and “don’t be a rude man.” asserted
user → continue → class
“I wish her well,” Scaramucci replied. asserted
Scaramucci → wish → ?
“The administration is an abomination but I don’t wish for her demise. asserted
I → wish → demise
As an American I am exercising my right to explain how damaging they are to their fellow Americans and the world. asserted
they → exercise → Americans
But I don’t want to see her fired. asserted
her → want → ?
However that is a job where you have to lie. asserted
you → have → ?
So there is that,” Scaramucci added. asserted
Scaramucci → be → ?
Beyond her awkward debut, Zacharia is facing questions about her legal credentials, with no public evidence that she passed a bar exam in the U.S. or elsewhere. asserted
she → face → U.S.
She worked at a law firm in Beijing after graduating from law school, but it remains unclear whether she was licensed to practice law. uncertain
she → work → law
Zacharia insisted Tuesday that she had “practiced international transactional law, with all the appropriate credentials.” asserted
she → insist → credentials
A White House official said she worked in international transaction law after moving to China with her husband. asserted
she → say → husband
Zacharia’s next briefing has not been announced. asserted
briefing → announce → ?
She said Tuesday that reporters could question Trump during his upcoming midterm campaign travel and noted that he was scheduled to return Thursday. uncertain
he → say → travel
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