White House Press Secretary Zacharia 'let go' from role, official says

White House Press Secretary Zacharia 'let go' from role, official says

(Updates the lede) By Trevor Hunnicutt, Jasper Ward and ​Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, Oct 16 - ​White House Press Secretary ‌Katie Zacharia was "let ​go" from the role, a White House official said on Friday, after President Donald Trump said ‌he had told her to reconsider the job following public scrutiny. "I told her: 'I think you're better off being happy, and I'm not sure you can ever ‌be happy in this stuff.' There's nothing easy about this stuff," Trump ‌told reporters while departing the White House.

He added: "I said to her honestly, 'If I were you, I'd reconsider... think about it. But I would reconsider.'" Fox News, citing a White House ⁠official, later ​reported that Zacharia ⁠was "transitioning" out of the role of press secretary.

Zacharia started the job on Monday and ⁠held her debut White House briefing on Tuesday. She had said she received a call ​about the role of press secretary last Wednesday and got offered the ⁠job to succeed Karoline Leavitt last Friday.

Trump later announced her appointment. In his announcement, he described ⁠her ​an attorney. Over the last week, the issue of whether Zacharia, a graduate of California's Pepperdine University law school, had actually passed the bar - ⁠making her an attorney - came under fire.

On Friday, during a Fox News interview ⁠on Thursday, Zacharia said ⁠she did not pass the bar. Anthony Scaramucci served director of communications for 10 days during Trump's first administration.

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