President Trump has offered the job of White House press secretary to conservative commentator Katie Zacharia, according to a White House official, filling a post that sat empty for more than a month after Karoline Leavitt’s exit.
Story Snapshot
- A White House official confirmed Trump offered Zacharia the press secretary role on October 9, 2026.
- Zacharia would replace Karoline Leavitt, who left in late August after having her second child.
- Multiple outlets reported the offer the same day, but none confirmed Zacharia had formally accepted.
- Zacharia previously worked as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson and as a communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group.
Offer Confirmed By White House Official
A White House official told Fox News Digital that President Trump offered Katie Zacharia the press secretary job. The Hill reported the same confirmation from a separate White House official. One official put it plainly to TheWrap: “The President has offered Katie Zacharia the position.” The statement left no doubt about the offer itself, even as other details stayed unsettled.
News of the offer spread fast once outlets picked it up on October 9, 2026. Fox News, The Hill, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Axios all ran reports the same day. Several of these outlets traced the news back to a White House official or to sources familiar with the discussions, showing the story moved through more than one independent channel.
Post Had Sat Vacant Since Leavitt’s Departure
The press secretary job had been open since late August 2026, when Karoline Leavitt stepped down. Fox News reported that Leavitt left the role after giving birth to her second child. That gap left the White House without its top public spokesperson for more than five weeks, during a stretch when the administration was pushing its legislative agenda ahead of November’s congressional elections.
Zacharia’s background gives the offer some context. Reports describe her as a lawyer, a former spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, and a conservative media commentator. She has also worked as a communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social. That résumé lines up closely with the kind of messaging work the press secretary job demands.
Acceptance Still Unconfirmed In Early Reports
Several outlets were careful to note what they could not yet confirm. Fox News, The Hill, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Axios all described the position as offered, not finalized, and said it remained unclear whether Zacharia had accepted. That distinction matters because an offer and a completed appointment are not the same thing, even when headlines sometimes blurred the line.
The White House press secretary job carries weight far beyond a single spokesperson’s seat. Academic research on the role describes the press secretary as the administration’s main information conduit, tasked with creating and sharing the official record of the president’s statements and actions for both the public and the press corps. Whoever holds it manages daily briefings and sets the tone for how the White House talks to the country.
🚨 JUST IN: Donald Trump has appointed Katie Zacharia as the new White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the role in August 2026 pic.twitter.com/gSMZ9TveLa
— Big ATL (@Big_ATL07) October 10, 2026
Zacharia had not issued a public statement in the reporting cited by major outlets at the time the offer became public. Yahoo News, distributing an Associated Press account, said she did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British Broadcasting Corporation said it had also reached out to her directly. Those gaps left basic questions about timing and her response open as of October 9.
What is clear is that a White House official put the offer on the record, multiple news organizations independently verified it through their own sourcing, and the succession from Leavitt to Zacharia follows a public and well-documented vacancy. The open questions now are practical ones: when Zacharia might formally accept, and when she would step before reporters for her first briefing as the administration’s voice.
Sources:
cbsnews.com, noticias.foxnews.com, thehill.com, yahoo.com, axios.com
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