Trump appoints Katie Zacharia as next White House press secretary

President Trump has named Katie Zacharia, a former DHS spokeswoman and Truth Social adviser, as White House press secretary after Karoline Leavitt stepped aside.

President Donald Trump announced the move on Truth Social, selecting Katie Zacharia to take the podium and speak for the administration. Zacharia already serves as senior communications adviser to Truth Social under Trump Media & Technology Group, and Trump praised that work in the same post.

Daily Caller reported the appointment on October 9, 2026, tying it directly to Trump’s public notice and Zacharia’s own response the same day.

Trump framed the choice in plain terms on his platform.

"It is my Great Honor to have just appointed, as Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia. Katie currently serves as Senior Communications Advisor to Truth Social (Trump Media & Technology Group), where she has been outstanding!... Good luck Katie! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Karoline Leavitt held the press secretary job from the start of the second Trump administration. She left in August shortly after having her second child, opening the lane for a successor who already knew the messaging operation from the inside.

Personnel shifts inside this White House have moved fast when performance or trust is on the line, including when Trump put a teleprompter operator on unpaid leave after a betting scheme tied to presidential remarks.

Zacharia’s path runs through DHS and Trump media

Zacharia is a conservative commentator with a law degree from Pepperdine University. She previously worked as a legal adviser for Fix California, the group founded by Trump special envoy Ric Grenell. Early in her career she interned at the Republican National Committee in 2006 and at the White House Office of Public Affairs during the Bush administration.

Earlier this year she took a public-facing homeland security post. On February 18, 2026, she posted that she would serve as spokeswoman and deputy assistant secretary for public affairs under President Trump and then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

"I’m honored and proud to serve @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and the Secretary of Homeland Security, @Sec_Noem, as the new Spokesperson and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. I will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again! Thank you, @TriciaOhio!! 🇺🇸"

That DHS stint was brief. She then moved into the senior communications role at Truth Social, the same perch Trump cited when he elevated her to the White House briefing room. The pattern is familiar: Trump pulls proven messengers closer when the daily fight over the record matters.

Cabinet-level and West Wing priorities have likewise stayed under direct presidential pressure, as when Trump pressed RFK Jr. to keep vaccine-autism research on the agenda after advisers urged him to drop it.

She sets a clear bar after Leavitt

Zacharia answered the appointment the same day on X. She thanked Trump for what she called a distinguished privilege and cast the job as service to the country at its 250-year mark.

"Thank you to President Trump for the distinguished privilege of serving as White House Press Secretary. Serving President Trump and the American people at this critical 250-year mark is the honor of a lifetime. President Trump has shown America that we can be great again, and he works to effectuate that greatness every single day. His confidence is a true privilege, and his leadership is a blessing to this country. The work ahead is to continue delivering strong results for our Country and communicating to the American people the major wins that this Administration is making every single day. I look forward to working with the White House press corps, and with reporters across the country, to get that record out. Following the fabulous Karoline Leavitt is a high standard, and one worth meeting. God bless President Trump, and God bless America."

She did not hedge the assignment. The task, as she stated it, is to deliver results and then explain those results to the press corps and to reporters outside Washington. That is the opposite of a communications shop that treats the briefing room as a damage-control booth.

Executive action has kept coming on multiple fronts while the staff roster turns over, including when Trump cut the childhood vaccine schedule and shifted more decision-making power to parents.

Press secretary still means the daily fight

The press secretary job is not ceremonial. It is the administration’s first line against a press corps that often frames lawful enforcement, border control, and deregulation as scandal. Leavitt set a combative standard from day one of the second term. Zacharia publicly accepted that standard and said it was worth meeting.

Her résumé fits the lane. DHS communications under Kristi Noem meant defending homeland security policy in real time. Truth Social work meant protecting the president’s own platform and message. Fix California legal work meant operating in a hard progressive media climate. None of that is soft training for the White House briefing room.

Internal discipline has been part of the same story. A separate case saw a White House staffer fined $172,000 and banned from prediction markets over trading tied to presidential speeches.

Trump’s announcement did not list a formal start date or a ceremonial venue. The public record so far is the Truth Social appointment, Zacharia’s acceptance, and the biography that runs from the RNC and Bush-era public affairs office through DHS and Trump Media.

Outside the West Wing, the administration still fights adverse rulings that later collapse, a pattern visible as Judge Boasberg’s rulings against the Trump administration keep falling apart on appeal. A press secretary who can put those wins and losses in plain English is not a luxury hire.

Zacharia now owns that microphone. Taxpayers who want secure borders, honest markets, and a government that answers for results should judge her the same way she framed the job: by the record she puts out every single day.

A White House that hires messengers who already believe the agenda beats one that hires apologists who explain it away.