Katie Zacharia out as White House press secretary after only 5 days

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] When we see it, you see it. That's the

[0:02] breaking news mission of CBS News 247.

[0:04] You see Katie Zachariah there just days

[0:06] ago tapped to debut as President Trump's

[0:08] mouthpiece to the press. She's out. So

[0:12] to talk about exactly how this happened,

[0:14] let's go back to the White House. Chief

[0:17] White House correspondent Nancy Cordis

[0:19] joins me to continue this conversation.

[0:21] Okay, not many days into the job and I

[0:24] cannot imagine that this is seen by the

[0:26] Trump administration as anything but a

[0:27] liability when Republicans are trying to

[0:29] hold on to power leading up to the

[0:31] midterms.

[0:33] >> Right. It's definitely a distraction. Uh

[0:36] it definitely uh you know conveys an air

[0:40] of uh chaos that White House staffers

[0:42] would not like to see just a few weeks

[0:45] before election day. And in this case,

[0:48] uh it has been reported that the

[0:50] president kind of went outside the

[0:52] normal uh practice when it came to

[0:54] vetting candidates and then hiring them.

[0:57] Uh basically offered the job to her on

[1:00] his own uh without talking to his White

[1:03] House chief of staff. He said that she

[1:05] was someone he saw on TV before, he

[1:07] really liked. He's watched her for a

[1:09] long time and he thinks that she is

[1:11] great. Um, but it appears that he has

[1:14] changed his mind. Though, what he told

[1:15] us on the White House South lawn a short

[1:18] time ago is that he told Katie Zachariah

[1:21] that uh she just doesn't need any of

[1:23] this, that the fake news is being too

[1:25] hard on her, that even some of his own

[1:27] allies in the press are being too hard

[1:28] on her, and that she's got a beautiful

[1:30] family that she might want to go back to

[1:33] instead. And yet it was the news that

[1:36] dug into the truth of this and that is

[1:38] the allegation that perhaps Katie

[1:40] Zachariah had misrepresented herself to

[1:42] the American people as an attorney. I

[1:45] can talk about that for a little while,

[1:46] but to my producers in the back, do we

[1:48] have that sound where Nancy was standing

[1:50] there and she was a part of that press

[1:53] group that asked the president where her

[1:55] law degree came from? Are we able to

[1:56] pull that up? If not, Nancy and I can

[1:58] talk about it all day long. Okay, so

[2:00] Nancy, maybe repaint that while we ceue

[2:02] up that sound. what happened out there.

[2:06] >> Sure. Well, I should say at this outset,

[2:07] I think there were two main issues for

[2:09] Zachariah uh that led to her

[2:11] transitioning out of this role. One of

[2:13] them was uh you know those questions

[2:15] that started on day one about her law

[2:17] degree. And the other one has to do with

[2:18] her performance both in a few interviews

[2:21] uh in the last couple of days and uh at

[2:24] the White House uh briefing room podium.

[2:26] But let's start with the questions about

[2:28] her law degree. So, uh, her very first

[2:30] day on the job right before her, uh, her

[2:33] first press conference, uh, Jud Leum,

[2:37] who, uh, runs a an outlet called a

[2:39] Popular Information, a left-wing

[2:42] publication, he reported that he had

[2:44] basically, uh, looked into all 50 states

[2:48] and couldn't find any,

[2:50] uh, confirmation that Zachariah actually

[2:53] had passed the bar exam in any state,

[2:56] which was surprising because she had

[2:57] described herself for many years as a

[2:59] lawyer. She had described herself as

[3:01] general counsel to a nonprofit and the

[3:04] president in welcoming her to the job

[3:07] had described her as an attorney. Um,

[3:09] and so that led to a lot of questions as

[3:12] you mentioned, including on the White

[3:14] House South Lawn where reporters asked

[3:16] the president uh where she had passed

[3:19] the bar exam. He seemed startled. He

[3:21] didn't really know. He turned around,

[3:22] she was right behind him and said,

[3:25] "Where did you pass the bar?" and she

[3:27] said,"I went to China." And then a bunch

[3:29] of us asked her directly, "But where'd

[3:30] you pass the bar exam?" And she just

[3:32] said again, "I went to China." Um,

[3:36] basically signaling that she hadn't been

[3:37] able to take or pass the bar exam

[3:39] because she had moved to China right

[3:40] after she graduated from law school. Uh,

[3:43] but that didn't answer the central

[3:44] question of why she had called herself a

[3:47] lawyer and general counsel in the first

[3:49] place. She tried to clean that up in

[3:51] some subsequent interviews um most

[3:54] notably with Sean Hannity on Fox last

[3:56] night. He seemed uh quite skeptical uh

[3:59] about her answers and that was notable

[4:01] because he is someone who has President

[4:04] Trump's ear.

[4:05] >> Okay. So, often times we in the media by

[4:08] the Trump administration get called and

[4:10] labeled that fake news. You just retold

[4:12] it. But now we're going to let the

[4:13] viewers judge for themselves. Let's

[4:14] watch what Nancy just brought to life.

[4:18] >> How'd she do? Who?

[4:20] >> For new project.

[4:20] >> Oh, I bet she did excellent. I bet she

[4:22] was very good.

[4:23] >> You said she's an attorney. Where did

[4:24] she pass the bar exam? Which state?

[4:26] >> Which state?

[4:28] >> In China.

[4:30] >> Where did you pass the bar?

[4:36] >> In China. Okay. So, Nancy, that is how

[4:40] that played out. But then, you know, in

[4:42] the spirit of fairness, let's talk about

[4:43] some of the way Katie was given when

[4:46] subsequent interviews happened. given a

[4:49] chance to explain herself. Can we go

[4:50] ahead and roll that as well?

[4:56] >> I consulted for a very long time. Uh

[4:59] many people in the field is it okay and

[5:02] acceptable if I label myself lawyer, not

[5:05] attorney at law, not Katie Zach

[5:07] Zachariah Esquire, but lawyer and

[5:10] provide legal analysis, not legal

[5:12] advice. And they said absol absolutely

[5:15] across the board. You can call yourself

[5:17] a lawyer. The truth is is I was very

[5:19] careful how I executed this and I never

[5:21] came across as someone who was an

[5:23] attorney at law.

[5:24] >> It's my understanding from our prior

[5:26] conversation that when she talks about

[5:28] people who said yes, go ahead and call

[5:29] yourself a lawyer. She was saying

[5:31] Pepperdine, no.

[5:34] >> That's what she said in one of her

[5:36] interviews about this topic. Yes. That

[5:37] those were the people that she consulted

[5:39] who said, "Yeah, you're fine to call

[5:40] yourself a lawyer. You graduated from

[5:42] law school, but you shouldn't call

[5:43] yourself an attorney." And that is

[5:45] something that is you know uh that that

[5:48] I I don't believe that that's a uniform

[5:50] view across the legal profession. There

[5:52] are many who would say that the terms

[5:54] lawyer and attorney are interchangeable

[5:58] >> and I would be interested to see what

[6:00] the response will be no doubt from

[6:01] Pepperdine who has quite a program there

[6:04] as to whether that characterization

[6:05] actually holds water. Of course, the

[6:08] interface between the White House uh

[6:11] communications director in and the media

[6:14] is something that is always so

[6:17] important, especially in times of

[6:18] national crisis, right? Moments of

[6:20] consequence. And that is why so many

[6:24] people have asked this question. It's

[6:25] not as the president alleges out of a

[6:27] spirit of meanness. It is because the

[6:29] truth matters.

[6:33] And I have to tell you the the job of

[6:35] White House press secretary is an

[6:37] incredibly difficult job. Not only uh

[6:41] you know do you have to be prepared for

[6:43] questions about anything and everything

[6:45] under the sun because you don't know

[6:47] what reporters are going to ask about

[6:48] you. You try to prepare and your staff

[6:51] tries to prepare you for every possible

[6:53] question. But you know there are there

[6:55] are national outlets, international

[6:57] outlets, uh you know every kind of

[7:00] question comes at you. So it requires a

[7:03] lot of preparation. It often requires uh

[7:05] sort of years in that policy millu just

[7:08] so you have this baseline comfort level

[7:11] with with you know current events and

[7:13] and major policy discussions at the

[7:16] White House and on Capitol Hill. uh it

[7:18] requires you to understand the principle

[7:21] and that I mean the president uh

[7:23] understand him very well and what he

[7:25] would like you to say and what he would

[7:27] say himself if he were at that podium

[7:29] and it's particularly difficult when you

[7:31] are press secretary for President Trump

[7:34] in uh in particular because he is

[7:37] someone who uh himself changes his views

[7:40] from one day to the next. He will, you

[7:42] know, just look at, for example, his

[7:44] position on live streaming this um

[7:47] execution of the Fort Hood shooter. Last

[7:49] week, he said he had signed off on it.

[7:52] Yesterday, he said, "Actually, we're not

[7:54] going to go ahead with it because there

[7:55] are a lot of very good people who don't

[7:57] want to watch that." So, um, President

[7:59] Trump's views aren't always static. And

[8:01] so, as press secretary, you have to be

[8:02] really nimble, really know what he would

[8:05] like you to say at any moment. And so,

[8:08] um, you know, she was really thrown into

[8:10] this role. Uh she was not someone who

[8:12] was on the White House staff before a

[8:15] few days ago. She flew to Washington DC.

[8:18] Um and she said herself on Fox that she

[8:20] really didn't have much time to sort of

[8:22] study up for the kinds of questions that

[8:25] she was going to be asked for the first

[8:26] time on Tuesday morning.

[8:28] >> It is a tough job. And now this is going

[8:30] to be a tough chapter for Zachariah. To

[8:32] the president's point, she does have a

[8:34] family, right? She has a family back in

[8:35] California who still hadn't moved their

[8:37] moving boxes across the country to

[8:38] Washington DC. No doubt a very difficult

[8:41] day for her and her family. Nancy

[8:44] Cordis, I appreciate so much the

[8:45] opportunity to continue the conversation

[8:47] there from the White House. Of course,

[8:49] we'll have continuing coverage right

[8:51] here on CBS News 247 and on the CBS

[8:54] Evening News with Tony Dopal.