The White House has picked Republican commentator Katie Zacharia to be President Donald Trump‘s next press secretary.
“She has been offered the position,” a White House official told the Washington Examiner.
If she accepts, Zacharia will join the White House from Truth Social, Trump’s social media company, where she is a senior communications adviser.
Zacharia is poised to replace Karoline Leavitt, who departed the administration in August to spend more time with her family but remains an outside adviser to Trump and a Fox News commentator.
Zacharia’s appointment, first reported by New York Times, is notable in that the White House tapped someone from outside the communications shop at a time when Trump has complained about his messaging.
“I’m very proud [of] the job we’ve done,” the president said last week during the White House’s Hispanic Heritage Month event. “But I’ve done a very bad job of explaining.”
“The only thing we don’t have is good public relations,” he added hours later. “We don’t seem to be able to get the word across.”
In response, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told the Washington Examiner that “Trump is the best messenger, unequivocal leader, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party.”
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer previewed the pressures of the position less than a month before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
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“It’s both a messaging and policy problem,” Spicer told the Washington Examiner. “Need to accentuate the good more and play down the bad.”