Trump picks Trump Media communications adviser Katie Zacharia as White House press secretary

Trump made the choice public on Truth Social. "I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our Country as the next White House Press Secretary, as she has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, the Media, the American People, and my Administration," he wrote ^[8]. He also said she has an "unblemished record of support, and has been a loyal and brilliant supporter" ^[9].

The reasons the president gave are about allegiance, and the candidate describes herself the same way. Zacharia has used the phrase "hardline Trump supporter" to describe her own politics, CNBC reported ^[10]. She told CNN in April that she is a "huge fan of ICE and a big fan of the Border Patrol," according to Axios ^[11]. Her reported experience speaking for a federal agency is about two months as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, also according to Axios ^[5].

From here the story can go three ways. She could turn the offer down, and the overlap ends before it starts. A resignation from Trump Media before her first briefing would put the company's tie to official messaging back where it stood before Friday, with the president announcing decisions on its platform ^[8]. If she keeps any link to the company, through a leave of absence or a continuing advisory role, the overlap becomes a disclosure question for Trump Media and the White House at once.

In our view the cost to Trump Media is a governance cost, and this record cannot put a dollar figure on it. The reports do not include her pay, the company's finances or the president's stake in it. The counter-thesis is that one adviser leaving for a government job changes nothing on the company's income statement, and that Truth Social was already the president's preferred platform ^[2]. We think the counter-thesis is right about the cash and wrong about the governance. If she accepts, the same company supplies both the president's channel and the person who speaks for him. We would drop the concern if she resigns from Trump Media before her first briefing and the White House says so publicly.