Zacharia's first day on the job

So how was the first day on the job for the brand new White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah? Let's talk about it with Loretta LaPorte tonight. She is a former press secretary to the former governor of Georgia, Sonny Perdue. She worked in the first Trump administration, and she's up late with me tonight here on the Final Five. Loretta, good to see you tonight. Hi, it's great to be here. Thanks for the invitation. We appreciate it. So you have unique perspective. You have gone there before the Georgia press in the past when you worked for Governor Perdue. You are also a former news anchor yourself. As you watch this play out today, what was your takeaway? Well, I think my initial takeaway is that Katie is very relieved that the first day out is over. That's generally your first feeling on your first day. You can plan and prepare all you want, but until it actually happens, you just can't get past it. So I think she's probably a little relieved that it's behind her today. This is a unique position to find anybody would find themselves in. But obviously, this is somebody whose name was not thrown out in the speculation after Caroline Leavitt announced that she was stepping aside. A lot of people thought that the president would go for somebody who is on TV frequently. Scott Jennings' name came up. Katie Zachariah, though, while not necessarily a household name, has certainly made the rounds as a pro-Trump, pro-MAGA pundit on cable news. She certainly has. I mean, she's done her fair share of commentary. She's also been in the Trump orbit in the inner circle for quite some time in various capacities. She had a short stint at the Department of Homeland Security where she was bridging a gap. And she's worked on some of the president's private sector work. In terms of what you saw from her today, I think the one moment, what I saw, one of the first questions that was on a lot of people's mind involved the ambassador of Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, her resignation. And the news, the first sign that the president had indicated that he wanted her to resign came from the briefing room today. Right. And I think that was probably very intentional. Of course, that was the question of the day that she was going to get or among the questions that were going to be top of mind for reporters going into today's session. And so I think that the White House press office intentionally gave her an opportunity to proactively put that news out first. Then coming out of this initial press briefing, she would have something that would be reportable, in addition to just making her way into the briefing room and introducing herself to the White House press corps. If you talk to, as things go in Washington, as things go in politics, you'll talk to half the country, they'll think she did a great job, the other half will say otherwise. But I think Caroline Leavitt, as polarizing as she was for a lot of people, she was very effective at her job. And she was a steadfast voice for President Trump before he was back in the White House, when she was in the briefing room since then. I know there's always this urge to compare, and I think it's unfair to make that comparison in day one. But what would she have to do? What does Katie Zachariah have to do to elevate her game here at the podium moving forward? Right. I mean, I think with Caroline Levitt, to your point, she had been with the president on the campaign trail, and she was a junior staffer under Kayleigh McEnany during the first Trump term. So she knew what she was walking into when she walked into the briefing room. She had been there before, and she knew how she wanted to command herself when she first took the podium. I think Katie is going to have to determine how she wants to interact with the White House press corps and develop her own brand, so to speak, in this role. It's a tough role, no doubt. I mean, you are on a global stage you're speaking on behalf of the president. And this is a president who is extraordinarily astute and voracious in terms of news consumption. And so you have to stay on task with him at all times. It's almost as though it's not two separate roles, but they're doing the role together. And he's given unprecedented access to the White House press corps and the broader media, so to speak, through giving out his personal cell phone, doing White House briefings at length. And so for her, she's going to have to stay abreast of where he is, not get ahead of him, not contradict him. But the bigger challenge for her is going to be getting nuanced in the policy questions that reporters are going to be asking her. Loretta Le Pore up late with me tonight here on The Final Five. Loretta, thank you very much. Thank you so much for having me. We appreciate it. We're back after this.