Katie Zacharia's Five-Day White House Drama: What Really Happened?

Katie Zacharia has been removed as White House press secretary after five days on the job, making her the shortest-serving person in the role in American history. Trump told reporters on Friday that he believed the press had been 'harsh' towards his new spokesperson but that he had advised her to 'reconsider' the position. Shortly afterwards, the White House confirmed she would be 'transitioning out'.

Her tenure lasted half as long as Anthony Scaramucci's, who was fired as communications director after 10 days in 2017 and whose departure gave rise to 'the Mooch' as an unofficial unit of time. Journalists are already calling five days 'one Zacharia'. Zacharia replaced Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August to spend more time with her two young children.

Leavitt held the role for 19 months. Zacharia held it for less than a working week. The 14-minute briefing Her first and only press conference took place on Tuesday.