Katie Zakaria ( Katie Zacharia ) hosted a press briefing for the first time on Tuesday in her role as press secretary for U.S. President Donald Trump. However, by Friday, the White House confirmed that she had resigned.
This five-day tenure record occurred after Zakaria made several mistakes in a row; meanwhile, on Wednesday, two watchdog organizations filed complaints with the California State Bar, requesting an investigation into whether she, who claims to be a lawyer, has violated California law.
The White House press secretary who served for the longest time is Stephen Elliott ( Stephen Early ), who held this position during the tenure of Franklin D. Roosevelt for 12 years. In history, there have only been 4 press secretaries whose terms were less than two months.
The following is a summary of the few White House press secretaries who have served the shortest terms in history.
Katie Zakaria
Katie Zakaria made her debut at a White House press briefing on Tuesday and soon found herself under close scrutiny regarding her legal practice qualifications.
Not long after the briefing on Tuesday, someone asked her in which state she passed the bar exam. She replied, “When I moved to China.”
On Thursday, Zakaria said in an interview with the right-wing provocateur Jack Posobick ( Jack Posobiec ) that she had taken the bar exam but did not pass it, and she has not taken it again since then.
After obtaining her law degree in 2011, Zakaria moved to China. She told Posobik that before moving to Beijing, she had already registered for the bar exam in advance; at that time, her husband was working at an American private equity firm.
Zakaria said about that exam, "I didn't want to quit." She also added, "Moreover, we knew we were moving to China, so obviously I was very distracted at the time, overwhelmed, but at the same time, I was also excited because I was finally getting married to someone I had been apart from for at least a year."
She served as a press secretary from October 12 to October 16.
Stephen Hurley
Stephen Ely is both the longest-serving press secretary in U.S. history and the second shortest-serving press secretary.
From 1933 to March 1945, he served as the Secretary of Press under President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a period of 12 years.
In December 1950, after the death of press secretary Charles Ross ( Charles Ross ), Ely made a brief return to serve as acting press secretary during the tenure of President Harry S. Truman.
He held this position for 14 days, from December 5 to December 18, 1950.
Gerald Thohorst
Gerald Thohorst ( Jerald TerHorst ) served as press secretary during the presidency of President Gerald Ford for a little over a month, from August 9 to September 8, 1974.
After Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon following the "Watergate scandal," Nixon resigned as a form of protest.
Teohorst stated that despite his long-standing friendship with the president, he could not defend Ford's decision in good conscience.
Jonathan Daniels
Jonathan Daniels ( Jonathan Daniels ) briefly served as a press secretary towards the end of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's term and in the early years of President Harry S. Truman's term.
This made his term of office 48 days, from March 29, 1945, to May 15, 1945.
He was appointed shortly before Roosevelt's death and temporarily continued in his position to assist Truman in completing the presidential transition of power.
Subsequently, Truman chose Charles Ross to replace Daniels.
According to Business Insider, the above four individuals are the White House press secretaries who served for less than two months in history.
