President Donald Trump announced Friday that conservative commentator Katie Zacharia will serve as his next White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the administration in August.
Zacharia, an attorney and frequent guest on Fox News and Newsmax, currently serves as a senior communications adviser to Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social. She also briefly worked at the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.
“She has an unblemished record of support, and has been a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning,” Trump said in announcing her appointment.
Zacharia thanked the president on social media, writing, “Serving President Trump and the American people at this critical 250-year mark is the honor of a lifetime.”
The appointment follows weeks of uncertainty over who would replace Leavitt. Trump consulted several advisers, including Leavitt herself, before offering Zacharia the position, according to CNN. Administration officials reportedly struggled to identify candidates whose previous public statements did not include criticism of Trump.
“I got a wonderful phone call from the chief talent recruiter, the president himself, and it turns out that being a huge supporter of all of his policies actually works,” she said.
Zacharia previously worked as a legal adviser to Fix California, a conservative organization founded by Trump ally Richard Grenell. Her political career began in Washington in 2006, when she interned for the Republican National Committee during the George W. Bush administration.
Leavitt, who departed the White House in late August, endorsed the selection.
“As I told the President, Katie has my full support and I will be cheering for her and the entire team at the White House every day,” she wrote.
Zacharia said she intends to work closely with reporters to communicate the administration’s accomplishments.
“The work ahead is to continue delivering strong results for our Country and communicating to the American people the major wins that this Administration is making every single day,” she wrote.
Speaking to reporters before departing the White House on Friday, Trump praised his new spokeswoman.
“She’s a friend of most of you,” he said. “I know she likes people — she likes all of you. Actually, I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but we just hired a new press secretary, and she’s going to be, I think, terrific.”
[READ MORE: Terrorist To Be Publically Executed]
