Trump campaigns in Georgia as Katie Zacharia exits press secretary role after 5 days

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Katie Zachariah out as White House press

[0:02] secretary after just 5 days on the job.

[0:06] She was criticized and we know now

[0:08] externally as well as internally for her

[0:11] only news conference early this week.

[0:12] Lasted 14 minutes, took all of three

[0:15] questions. Zachariah also represented

[0:17] herself before hitting that podium on

[0:20] many media appearances as a lawyer, but

[0:23] was later forced to acknowledge she

[0:25] never passed a bar exam. Took it once in

[0:27] California, didn't pass. President Trump

[0:30] foreshadowing what was to come. Talked

[0:32] to reporters earlier today. Listen.

[0:34] >> I just spoke to her about it. I said,

[0:36] "Katie, is this for you?" Because, you

[0:39] know, she's been treated very rough. I

[0:41] said to her, "Honestly, if I were you,

[0:43] I'd reconsider. You think about it, but

[0:45] I wouldn't reconsider."

[0:48] >> Well, the reconsideration has occurred.

[0:50] She's out. CBS News congressional

[0:52] correspondent Nicole Killian in Dalton,

[0:54] Georgia,

[0:55] >> where the president is traveling on

[0:56] behalf of Republicans in pretty

[0:58] competitive high-profile statewide

[1:00] races. Nicole, take it away.

[1:03] >> And thanks to Republic

[1:08] >> Yeah, that's right. And you can probably

[1:09] hear the president speaking right over

[1:11] my shoulder, Major. So far, he has not

[1:13] brought up this issue involving his

[1:16] press secretary moving out of that role.

[1:19] Instead, he has really tried to make the

[1:21] focus what's happening here on the

[1:23] ground in Georgia, that early voting is

[1:25] underway and that it's critical for all

[1:28] these folks to get out and vote. That

[1:30] really is his key message here as he

[1:33] tries to rally support for the

[1:34] Republican ticket, including Senate

[1:38] candidate Mike Collins, who is here, as

[1:40] well as gubanatorial

[1:42] candidate Rick Jackson, who is also

[1:44] here. It's actually their first joint

[1:46] campaign appearance uh together, but

[1:48] they are topping the ticket here in the

[1:50] state. And so the president really

[1:53] trying to hammer that message home that

[1:55] we have heard him mention time and again

[1:57] in these rallies uh that he wants folks

[1:59] to pretend that he is on the ballot. He

[2:02] feels by saying that that really is a

[2:04] motivating factor for his base to drive

[2:06] them out because as we know uh the

[2:09] turnout tends to be a little bit lower

[2:11] in a midterm year than it does during a

[2:13] presidential cycle. Certainly the

[2:14] president is very cognizant of that,

[2:16] which is why he's telling people, "Hey,

[2:18] pretend that I'm on the ballot here."

[2:20] And he's really trying to spend the bulk

[2:22] of his time here, too, talking about his

[2:25] record talking about his policies. And

[2:27] while he certainly has faced a lot of

[2:28] criticism about the war in Iran, uh

[2:31] certainly he has made a lot of the

[2:34] comments here focused around this issue

[2:36] of affordability and really trying to

[2:38] talk about what he believes his

[2:40] administration has done in terms of

[2:42] trying to bring back manufacturing jobs

[2:44] in terms of hiring. Uh that that is up

[2:47] and that he really feels that he has

[2:50] helped turn around this economy. So he

[2:52] spent a lot of time really talking about

[2:54] that. you know, sometimes he can kind of

[2:56] go on the weave, if you will, and divert

[2:58] to other topics, but he's really

[3:00] spending a lot of time uh on the

[3:02] economy, on immigration. Of course, that

[3:04] was another signature issue that he ran

[3:06] on in 24 uh telling folks here that you

[3:09] can't let Democrats get back into power

[3:11] and return to this policy of open

[3:13] borders. I'm the one who closed the

[3:14] borders, so that's another reason why

[3:16] you have to support this ticket. I will

[3:18] note very briefly major that uh the

[3:20] president was interrupted ever so

[3:22] briefly by a group of protesters over my

[3:25] shoulder here. They have since been

[3:26] escorted out but that is also something

[3:28] that we have seen in recent days and

[3:31] weeks really uh on occasion these

[3:33] protesters interrupting the president

[3:35] but they were promptly escorted out. The

[3:37] president continuing with his remarks

[3:39] and as you can hear still talking now

[3:41] major

[3:42] >> on the road with the president Nicole

[3:44] Killian. Thank you very much.