In an appearance on Fox News, her fifth day on the job, Zacharia was asked by Hannity, a close Trump ally, whether she still has the president's confidence. "I'm standing here," she replied.
The interview came after Zacharia's first White House press briefing on Tuesday, which lasted 14 minutes and during which she read from notes and occasionally stumbled over her words. She took questions from only three outlets, including the conservative Daily Mail. When Hannity asked what happened and how she felt it went, Zacharia defended herself, saying she had little time to prepare between accepting the job and the briefing.
Zacharia, a former conservative commentator and an adviser to Trump Media Group, also has a brief stint as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. She replaced Karoline Leavitt, who left the role in August.
Reports this week revealed that Zacharia, who graduated from Pepperdine University's law school, never passed the bar exam. She has described herself as a lawyer, not an attorney, and President Trump called her an "attorney" when announcing her appointment. Zacharia defended past social media posts identifying her as an "attorney" by saying they were retweets.
During the Hannity interview, she insisted the Daily Mail was "not known to be a conservative outlet" and declined to explain why she took only three questions. She said she would be "very well prepared on the briefing" going forward and would "love, and do love, questions."