Katie Zacharia just made her debut as White House press secretary, but gamblers are already wagering a quick tenure at the podium in the James Brady Briefing Room.
On Tuesday, her second day on the job, Zacharia briefed reporters for a little under 15 minutes. The short appearance featured an eight-minute opening statement followed by a little over six minutes of question-and-answer time with three reporters selected by the White House.
President Donald Trump said after the briefing that Zacharia was “very good,” but critics were quick to lambast the performance.
Gamblers, it seems, were more likely to side with the critics.
As of Wednesday afternoon, on the prediction market Kalshi, 35% of users bet on Zacharia being replaced by the end of the year. An additional 65% predicted she’d be out by July 1, and 86% put money on her not finishing Trump’s term in office.
Polymarket, a separate prediction market, saw 7% of positions stake Zacharia’s exit coming before the end of the month, while 25% bet she’d be gone by the end of the year.
Odds-makers similarly soured on Zacharia’s chances at staying on for the long haul.
British bookmaker William Hill was offering a “Katie Zacharia Special” on Wednesday that set her odds on leaving before 2027 at +200. Gamblers taking the bet stand to earn $200 for every $100 wagered.
“Katie Zacharia’s first White House briefing has immediately put her future in the spotlight, and we make her 2/1 (+200) to leave before 2027. That price implies a one-in-three chance of her stepping down before the turn of the year, following what’s being described as a ‘brutal’ debut as Donald Trump’s press secretary,” Hill spokesman Lee Phelps said. “Zacharia’s odds for her to leave her current role could well have been shorter if it wasn’t for the US President’s public backing and defence against the criticism reported after her first appearance in front of the cameras. One briefing might not determine a press secretary’s future, but it has certainly made her next appearances a focus of attention.”
Even figures from Trumpworld seemed split on Zacharia’s future. Some, such as White House communications director Steven Cheung, echoed the president’s comments, throwing cold water on a potentially early exit.
“A tremendous start for the new White House [press secretary]!” Cheung wrote on X shortly after the briefing. “She commanded the room and effectively reminded the American people of all the great work President Trump and his Administration has done thus far.”
Others offered much more critical private comments.
A former senior Trump White House official told the Washington Examiner that the president did Zacharia a disservice by scheduling her introductory briefing so early into her tenure. They noted that former press secretary Karoline Leavitt had a full week to prepare for her first briefing back in January 2025, coupled with more than a year of “learning the cadence” of the press corps while serving as Trump’s chief campaign spokeswoman in 2024 and a junior press aide during the president’s first term.
“Let’s be honest. There was just no way Katie could step in and replicate that type of performance on Day 2. I don’t know what the president was thinking,” the former official confided.
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One source close to the White House, a veteran of Trump’s political operation, said that Zacharia’s introduction did not go to plan and said that, if the president chooses to move on from her, it would happen sooner rather than later.
“If he’s going to fire her, he’s going to do it soon and cite the fact that she lied about being a lawyer,” the source told the Washington Examiner, referring to controversy regarding Zacharia’s credentials.
However, that person noted Trump has previously kept on a press secretary who declined to hold on-camera press briefings, pointing out Stephanie Grisham, the third press secretary from the president’s first term. Grisham declined to hold an on-camera briefing during her tenure and instead chose to field questions in an audio-only format.