Fox News host Sean Hannity came to the defense of new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia on Tuesday, just hours after she stepped behind the podium for her first briefing.
Zacharia fielded only three questions during the 14-minute briefing, with most of the time taken up by prepared remarks. Critics, mostly on the left, panned her performance and questioned whether she is ready for the role.
Even one White House official weighed in, telling MS NOW, “Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better, fast.”
Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly also tore into Zacharia’s debut, accusing her of “auditioning for a job on Fox News” and advising her “to present yourself as a serious person.”
On the betting market Kalshi, the overwhelming consensus is that Zacharia will no longer hold the job by Nov. 1.
In addition, while Zacharia has said she is an attorney, there appears to be no evidence that she ever passed a bar exam.
During his monologue, Hannity defended the new press secretary by airing a clip of her answering a question from Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Peter Doocy. It was the only clip from the briefing that Hannity played.
“You’re starting as White House press secretary three weeks before a midterm cycle that President Trump himself says will be very tough for Republicans,” Doocy said. “Is your job just to speak about White House matters or is it to make things less tough for Republicans in the midterms?”
“Well, Peter, I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was hoping to amplify, multiply, and expand upon President Trump’s incredible agenda for the American people,” Zacharia responded.
She said she hopes to carry that work into an official capacity and build on “all of the wins he’s making for Americans,” helping people understand how much has changed and what the president has accomplished in a short span of time.
“My goal is to be able to communicate that in complete tandem with the president, as he is his own best spokesperson and will absolutely be leading the way with that,” she said.
Hannity then turned his fire on Zacharia’s critics in the media.
“All right, a perfectly normal question and answer,” Hannity said. “But most of the so-called journalists, and I say so-called because that’s what I mean. We have an abusively biased corrupt news media in this country, the legacy media mob as I affectionately refer to them. They are not interested in real questions and real answers. They are out for blood.”
Hannity noted that Zacharia has been mocked and attacked over her appearance, her hair and the way she spoke, and that critics have questioned her intelligence, her credentials and even her bar exam.
“Could you imagine the press asking similar questions to Karine Jean-Pierre? Asking about her background? Her record?” Hannity asked.
“With Zacharia, the blowback was immediate. It was nasty,” he said. “And all of this from a group of people that claim to champion women in the workplace.”
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