Trump’s new press secretary’s debut slammed by US media

The White House’s new press secretary, Kathy Zakharia, held her first briefing, and the American media tore it apart. The appearance lasted about 15 minutes, and analysts say she read the text slowly, with stumbles and mistakes.

A briefing read from paper

Zakharia began by saying it was an honor to work for President Trump and the American people. It was the only line she delivered confidently, without looking at her notes. Everything else she read off the page. “As if she were seeing those notes for the first time in her life,” The Independent writes. During her remarks on US military operations she got tangled in her sentences and sighed wearily. In passing, she said the administration had asked for the resignation of US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle over her financial scandal, The New Republic reports.

She took questions from only three journalists from conservative outlets. Describing her family’s move to Washington, she mistakenly called her husband “my president” and corrected herself with a laugh. Then the briefing ended abruptly: Trump is about to fly to Alaska, and reporters will be able to put questions to him directly on the White House lawn.

The White House reaction

Donald Trump backed his press secretary and told reporters she did “very well.” However, according to media reports, the reaction inside the White House itself is far cooler: administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the performance “brutal”. Some advisers were surprised that she was sent out to the press on her second day on the job without intensive preparation for tough questions.

One official told the TV channel MS NOW that she needs to improve quickly, or she will “break Anthony Scaramucci’s record” — he lasted just 11 days as communications director in 2017. Joe Biden’s former press secretary Jen Psaki compared the briefing to a sketch from the satirical show Saturday Night Live.

Source: novinky.cz