NYT (“Katie Zacharia Is Ousted After 5 Days as White House Press Secretary“):

President Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was forced out of her role Friday after five days on the job, a rare reversal by the White House that capped a week of upheaval.

Ms. Zacharia, who had gained Mr. Trump’s attention as a conservative commentator, had gotten off to a shaky start with her first and only press briefing on Tuesday. She largely read off a script and ended questioning after just five and a half minutes. That was followed by an onslaught of headlines about whether she had misrepresented herself as a lawyer — the president called her “an attorney” — despite failing her bar exam.

Subsequent interviews she gave in the media, in which she tried to defend herself by pointing out how unprepared she had been to go before the Washington press corps, also went poorly.

Finally, after days of unrelenting press coverage, the Trump administration decided on Friday afternoon to do something it almost never does: It folded.

Mr. Trump was walking across the South Lawn to depart for a midterm rally in Georgia when he stopped to talk to reporters, telling them how he’d just encouraged his press secretary to “reconsider” her new job.

“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” he told the reporters, recounting his conversation with her. “Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.”

[…]

The president told reporters that Ms. Zacharia might continue to work for him “in some form, but maybe a more pleasant form.”

Later Friday, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said that Ms. Zacharia would be “transitioning into a new role that will be announced at a later date.”

Ms. Zacharia, in her own social media post late on Friday, wrote that it “was an honor to work for” Mr. Trump.

The president, she added, “is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man. I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to.”

Let us hope.

As if on cue . . .

POLITICO (“Scaramucci has some advice for Zacharia“):

Anthony Scaramucci knows what it’s like to lose a job just days after getting it.

Scaramucci, a former White House communications director during President Donald Trump’s first term, lasted about 10 days on the job. His time atop the press shop was so short that it became a running joke and eventually its own unit of political time: a “Scaramucci,” or “Mooch” for short.

So when Katie Zacharia, Trump’s newly minted press secretary, stumbled through her first briefing this week and over questions about her legal credentials on Fox News’ supposedly friendly turf, the Trump ally-turned-critic took to social media to chime in.

“She will make it. I have the over,” Scaramucci wrote late Thursday, responding to speculation about whether Zacharia would last more than a Scaramucci.

“I want her to succeed,” he followed up with another post. “Not liking the president’s policies or politics is one thing but I wish people well.”

Alas, the under was the way to go. Way under.

In related news . . .

POLITICO (“Susie Wiles helped set up Fox interview ahead of press secretary’s exit“):

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles helped set up Katie Zacharia’s appearance on Fox News Thursday night, when the embattled new press secretary struggled to answer questions about her rocky first days on the job, according to two people familiar with the internal dynamics.

She was ousted hours later on Friday.

The interview with host Sean Hannity, which aired during prime time, turned into a pointed examination of Zacharia’s first press briefing and her legal credentials.

One of the people, granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics, described the appearance as a “sanctioned hit” on Zacharia, who was not Wiles’ preferred choice for the role.

“[White House spokesperson] Danielle [Alvarez] and Susie fed her to Hannity,” a second person familiar with the matter said, noting that Wiles and Hannity are friendly and speak often.

A senior White House official, also granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues, said “Susie and Sean do talk, but Susie did not need to feed her to Sean or anybody else. It’s not her style.”

“And Hannity wasn’t the nail in her coffin; her hit [on Fox & Friends] this morning was, as well as her weird answer on being a lawyer,” the senior White House official said.

In fairness, if you can’t hold your own against Fox News hosts, you probably shouldn’t be press secretary for a Republican White House.

Meanwhile, off the top rope, comes . . .

CNN (“Why Trump decided to fire Katie Zacharia as press secretary after just five days: ‘Did anyone vet her?’“):

The entire episode underscored the uneasy atmosphere that has pervaded Trump’s inner circle less than three weeks before the midterm elections. Zacharia’s sudden hiring and equally swift firing were a product of Trump’s impulse to hire a loyal television defender he’d grown somewhat enamored with from afar, without much thought to the other requirements of the job.

In a statement for this story, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said: “All of this breathless speculation is just that— speculation. And it’s fiction that’s not even creative. The fact is that Katie took on a very important job, and she will continue to support the President as she transitions to a new role. She is an amazing teammate and tremendous talent.”

[…]

Some Trump advisers watched her brief tenure unfold with a measure of chagrin, wondering how one of the government’s most visible and sought-after jobs could have gone to someone with so little experience or confidence in performing it.

“What the f**k is happening over there?” one Trump adviser asked incredulously after watching the newly installed Zacharia conduct her first, widely panned press briefing.

The new press secretary, multiple advisers said, appeared woefully underprepared — and lacked basic skills to do the job.

“Did anyone vet her?” one asked.

The short answer, it turned out, was no, according to multiple White House officials and advisers.

Instead, her selection came amid a burst of frustration on the part of the president that a month ahead of the midterms, there were few voices defending him amid unrelenting coverage of Republicans’ dwindling midterm prospects.

Until that point, the president had shown no real urgency in filling the role Karoline Leavitt vacated at the end of the summer. Advisers and allies had floated names, none of which seemed to seriously pique Trump’s interest. White House officials had become resigned to the possibility there would be no press secretary before the midterms.

But the intensifying political problems for Republicans — and the blame Trump was catching for the party’s woes — appeared to kickstart his search. After struggling for weeks to land a new press secretary, Trump suddenly became fixated on filling the role, complaining to advisers he had no one pushing his message, multiple sources familiar with the matter said.

Into that anger emerged a benevolent voice: Zacharia, cable news regular, passionate defender, sometimes labeled an attorney on TV. What about Katie? Trump asked advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, a source familiar with the matter said. The president also sought Leavitt’s counsel.

Only a week earlier, Zacharia was not being considered for the role. Throughout the search to replace Leavitt, the White House struggled with higher-profile names, several of whom had previously criticized Trump. On multiple occasions, senior officials had narrowed down the list, only to find that candidates had said something negative about the president, disqualifying them from the position, according a White House official.

Zacharia’s record was “unblemished,” Trump would later say. Among her boosters in the West Wing was Natalie Harp, the loyal Trump aide who travels with him everywhere, a source familiar with the matter said.

That would explain it.