White House press secretary fired after 5 days on job

Like Pierre Poilievre, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will also be addressing the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference at 3.45 Mountain Time, 5.45 Eastern. You can watch that live during Power and Politics right here on CBC News Network. Let's go to Washington now and breaking news out of the White House. The CBC's Katie Simpson is in our bureau there, joins us live. And Katie, you've done some digging. What can you tell us? Well, we can match the reports out there. senior White House official speaking on background tells me that Katie Zachariah, the press secretary who took on the role five days ago, is now out of a job. The language that the White House is using publicly is that she's transitioning out of the role of White House press secretary. But the reports from American media outlets is that she was pushed. She was fired. This comes after a very, very rocky start to a very brief public career in terms of this role in terms of her holding this position. Again, just five days. She first stood behind the podium at the White House on Tuesday in an appearance that received a lot of criticism in the United States and even in some areas where U.S. President Donald Trump typically gets a lot of support. And I'm talking about American conservative media outlets. During that first appearance, she spoke for just 14 minutes. She only took questions from three reporters. And It sort of set a tone that that that usually the first briefing is a way to set a tone for how that relationship is going to go between the press secretary and the press, what to expect, that kind of thing. And it was it was not it did not go as well as many in the White House had been hoping or or necessarily perhaps she had been hoping Donald Trump coming to this decision just again, just five days in. Here's what he told reporters as he was heading out to a campaign rally in Georgia, where before the decision had been announced, he really strongly suggested that her time as press secretary was coming to an end. She's been treated, I would say, pretty nastily. And I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want. She said, this is a lot tougher. I said, welcome to the world of Trump. He also talked about how, you know, she has a family, she could be spending time with them, that kind of thing, and that this is not necessarily a job for everyone. So it is absolutely unusual that a press secretary is out in just five days. Her appointment was actually unexpected as well. She was not seen as sort of an insider looking to take on that role or someone that had been spoken about in, you know, American cable news networks in terms of conversations in Washington, D.C. And so it was a surprising announcement and just as surprising a resignation or maybe not as surprising. And this is happening just weeks before the crucial midterm elections. How could this play out into that contest? Well, it's obviously a distraction for U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to be out there trying to sell his party. The polls are suggesting that Republicans are in a very difficult uphill battle right now, trying to hold on to leadership or hold on control of the House as well as the Senate. Polls suggest right now that the Democrats could take control of at least the House, if not the Senate. That's a much bigger challenge. But again, that's an issue there. But also what this episode illustrates, not necessarily specifically about Katie Zachariah herself. You know, she she sort of blamed her her rocky appearance that first day on not having a lot of preparation time that, you know, she came in was brief Tuesday morning and then went out and made her first appearance just hours later. But it sort of speaks to bigger picture concerns about what is going on in the White House and how Donald Trump is sort of leading. What we understand from U.S. media reports is that Katie Zachariah was announced as the new White House press secretary and that Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, was not aware that she was going to be the pick, that she'd been offered the job. When a chief of staff does not know something of that significance, That indicates there are some communication issues at the very least, but the bigger picture problems about some dysfunction that may be happening behind the scenes at a time that is already fairly chaotic. There is some reporting, Andrew, I will mention from CNN about how Donald Trump became frustrated. Donald Trump had been growing frustrated that the previous press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, had not been replaced yet. This is according to CNN and that he wanted more people on TV defending him and his agenda and that he was, again, according to CNN, growing frustrated. And that when her appearance was panned on television, as well as when he spoke to his aides in the White House, very few people were willing to defend her. And so that seemed to sort of be the final straw there. Katie, thank you. Katie Simpson, live in Washington.