Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Trump’s press secretary fired after 5 days and one briefing

Transcript

Trump’s press secretary fired after 5 days and one briefing · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We've now learned White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah has,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in fact, been fired.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Just minutes ago, President Trump had told reporters he told
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: her to reconsider her position. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: at the White House. So that was sort of him,
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I think, softly telling us about this. But tell us
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: what you're learning officially here, Kristen.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Well, I specifically asked if he was considering firing her,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: and he kind of hesitated and worked around the question.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: He kept saying how nice Katie was, how she didn't
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: deserve to be treated like this. We are told that
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: he did fire her before leaving.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: For Georgia.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Unclear exactly what that conversation looked like. President Trump was
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: kind of outlining some of that, saying that he told Katie,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: you know, this is a lot on you. You don't
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: deserve any of this. Maybe you should reconsider. This is
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: not the life you want. And he went further than
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: that during our back and forth. Essentially, at one point
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: I asked, OK, so who's on the short list now
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: for the next press secretary? And he said there's a
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: long list of people that want this job. I mean,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: he wasn't saying, you know, Katie's still in the role.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: But we did learn after that exchange that she had
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: been fired. Of course, what we did see was this
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: widely panned briefing that was roughly 14 minutes with three
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: preplanned questions. Then we saw both of those interviews on
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Fox News, which Most people were criticizing her for. There
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: had been a lot of conversations behind the scenes about
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: whether or.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: Not she was ready for prime time.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: The big question had been whether or not Trump was
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: actually going to go through with firing her, given the
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: fact that he had chose Katie Zachariah on his own
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: with his own gut intuition.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: We had been told that he grew enamored.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: With her in recent weeks on Fox News, looking at
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: her various appearances. and then decided that he wanted her
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: to be the press secretary during a brief phone call
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: between the two of them. It is unclear she was
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: planning on moving her entire family to Washington, D.C. Just
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: a reminder, she is based.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: In California.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: I will say I also asked him if he was
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: disappointed about the fact that Katie had not disclosed that
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: she had not passed the bar, that she was not technically,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: in many eyes, an actual lawyer or attorney. And he
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: brushed that off, saying he wasn't hiring her to be
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: a lawyer or an attorney, that he was hiring her
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: to be the press secretary. We also asked if he
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: would find another role in the administration for her. And
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: he said, yes, kind of, a very soft yes. You know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: there'll be something for her potentially. I'll note that she
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: came from Trump's orbit already.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: She was working for the media company. at the time.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is an incredibly short tenure, but it
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: is kind of an interesting, if you take a step
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: back and look at all of this, we've obviously been
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: talking about the reporting about chief of staff, Susie Wiles,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: not being fully read in on the hiring of Katie Zachariah,
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: which led many people around the Trump orbit to think
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: maybe Wiles was on her way out. Maybe people were
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: believing they could work around Wiles. President Trump not only,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: you know, distance himself from Katie Zachariah during our exchange.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: He also full-throatedly defended Susie Wiles, saying she's not going
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: anywhere for a long time, that he respects her, that
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: he leans on her.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: And I will tell you, in.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: The last couple of days, I've talked to a number
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: of people who say he goes to her for everything. Well,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: One thing he didn't go to her for was choosing
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Katie Zachariah as press secretary. And now that has been
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: pushed to the side. She is no longer press secretary,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: although it really did seem as though Trump was going
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: to try to figure something out for her, not necessarily
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: in the White House, but figure something out for her
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: down the road based on our exchange. But this is
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: a roughly week-long tenure. Is it today, Friday? I think
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: it was announced on Friday that he had chosen Katie Zachariah.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: So we are literally at one week mark here.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: And she only started officially, I think, on Monday. So
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: quite a short tenure. Let's go now to CNN's Brian Stelter. Brian,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: we talked to you less than an hour ago. We
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: were you were reacting and telling us about those comments.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Now we have word that she actually was fired. Obviously,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the president more gentle in what he was saying out
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: there as he was on his way to Marine One.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: Yes, but this is official. She is out of the
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: job after only five days. Her appointment was announced less
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: than one week ago, later last Friday afternoon, when you
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: look at the timeline. And the president wanted her to
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: start right away, wanted her to get out before the
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: public on Tuesday, wanted her to hold that briefing. But
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: that briefing was awkward. It was stilted. It was very,
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: very short. It was disappointing to the press corps, but
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: also to the wider public. She even managed to get
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: some exaggerations in there to her one and only briefing.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: And ever since that briefing on Tuesday, she has been
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: challenged about her credentials. This question about why she was
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: out there identifying herself as a lawyer, as an attorney,
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: not correcting people when they would describe her as a
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: practicing attorney, that has really been a focal point of
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: the scrutiny. But I think it's about more than just
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: that question. It's also about her performance at the briefing
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: on Tuesday and about her interviews since then. This president,
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: like it or not, cares deeply about television performance. He
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: is a student of this medium. He thinks very long
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: about what it means to be on camera and how
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: he tries to portray himself. And he was not happy
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: with the way she came across. It turns out these
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: pair of Fox News interviews on Thursday night and this
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: morning foreshadowed Zachariah's departure. She was out there with Sean
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: Hannity and This Morning on Fox and Friends defending her
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: role and saying she had little time to prep for
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: the new job and saying she's going to do her
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: best to live up to the job. But those interviews
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: were tough. The hosts were skeptical. And in retrospect, those
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: hosts were foreshadowing what was about to happen with her.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: And this is a record, no?
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: This is a record. I think you're thinking, Brianna, of
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Anthony Scaramucci, who infamously was appointed White House communications director
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: and then was forced out after 11 days. That was
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: in the summer of 2017. That was a moment when
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: I think we all learned about the chaotic nature of
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: the Trump White House and the way people could be
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: hired and then fired so abruptly. I actually talked to
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: Mooch last night. I asked him about Zachariah. He was
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: predicting she would last longer than he did in her
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: White House job. He said, look, she's not meant to
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: be behind the podium, but she's a nice person. She's
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: not a bad person. So a moment ago, Scaramucci has
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: weighed in because some people refer to this as a
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: Mooch or a Scaramucci. The length of time someone stays
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: in a White House job is... His reaction, quote, records
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: are made to be broken, but I take no pleasure
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: in other people's pain. And can I underscore that for
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: a moment? You know, maybe someone was underqualified. Maybe they
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: were put up in a job in a very high
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: profile position through no fault of their own. This is
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: actually about the president's hiring practices. This is about how
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: he chooses who he wants to surround himself with in
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: his inner circle. He liked someone on television. He brought
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: them from California to D.C. A very short job interview.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: Then he suddenly announced she was hired. He said she
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: was an attorney. She's not. This is really ultimately on
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: the president and his leadership style.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: And Brian, as we look ahead to what comes next,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: because it took him some time after Caroline Leavitt left
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: to replace her. How do you think, I mean, what
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: should we expect as he potentially looks for somebody to
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: fill this now empty job?
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: I was just looking at True Social to make sure
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: he hadn't said anything more about that. You know, he
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: indicated when he was leaving the White House that he
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: wanted to talk to her again after his weekend of travels.
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: Maybe he will have another role for her in the
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: White House. I believe CNN, we are reaching out to Zachariah,
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: trying to hear from her directly, and we've not heard
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: back yet. You know, it seems to me he'll likely
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: leave this job vacant between now and the midterm elections.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: He had been leaving it vacant for several weeks. And
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: the reality is there are not daily press briefings from
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: this White House the way there were in the Obama
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: years and frequently in the Biden years. Trump went many
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: months without having press briefings during his first term. Caroline
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: Leavitt held briefings once a week. So we're going to
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: be back to that drought now without press briefings. And
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: briefings are important because they're a symbol of the American
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: government being open for business. But more importantly, the press
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: secretary also engages with the press behind the scenes and
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: provides accessibility. And what we've seen from Trump lately is
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: the opposite. He is trying to push the press out. Today,
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: CNN was scheduled to be the out-of-town TV pool. That's
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: the news crew responsible for filming the president's trip on
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: Air Force One and in Georgia and in Florida. The
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: White House excluded CNN from the trip, basically banned us
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: from flying on Air Force One. So even though a
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: federal judge earlier this week reaffirmed his order saying that
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: CNN must be allowed access to the White House grounds,
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: Trump is now trying this new stunt involving Air Force
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: One where he keeps reporters off the plane because he
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: wants to pick and choose who can cover him. So
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: he's in a position right now where he's trying not
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: to have an accessible White House. He's pushing people out instead.
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: And so viewers should know we're probably going to see
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: less of President Trump this weekend because the other networks
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: are not filling in for CNN. They are not taking
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: that pool seat and doing the job instead. There will
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: be no pool to TV coverage of the president's trips,
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: travels this weekend.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much.