Jen Psaki Gets a Tough Reality Check After Catty Shot at Katie Zacharia's White House Press Briefing Debut
Former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki got upbraided on social media after she compared new Trump White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s first media briefing Tuesday to a “Saturday Night Live” skit.
Zacharia, just named by President Donald Trump to the post on Friday, conducted about a 15-minute briefing, which mostly consisted of prepared remarks. She did take questions from three reporters before ending the briefing to allow correspondents to cover the president’s departure to Alaska.
She explained that Trump would answer more of their questions himself from the South Lawn before he left.
“Well that briefing was basically an SNL skit … except it wasnt … will have a lot more to say at 9pm,” Psaki wrote in a catty post on X.
Someone quickly responded, “Will you have to circle back on it?”
Will you have to circle back on it?
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) October 13, 2026
During her tenure as President Joe Biden’s White House press secretary from January 2021 to May 2022, Psaki developed a reputation for telling reporters she would have to “circle back” later with them regarding their questions.
Below are three minutes of her providing her signature response.
Another replied to Psaki’s X post about Zacharia, “Your entire career as press secretary was an SNL skit lol.”
@jrpsaki Your entire career as press secretary was an SNL skit lol
— Shvartoshi Nakamoto (@gshv4rtsm4n) October 13, 2026
CNN host Kaitlan Collins described Zacharia’s first turn at the White House podium as “bizarre.”
“I’m not really sure that I’ve ever been to a press briefing where there were only three questions in the briefing. It was quite unusual, especially for the first briefing,” Collins asserted.
Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary during his first term, offered a far more generous assessment of Zacharia’s first briefing, saying she had a “mic drop” moment when she announced that Trump asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as ambassador to Greece.
“She did bring news to the podium,” McEnany said.
Guilfoyle reportedly sent text messages to Republican donor and former congressional candidate Eric Deters asking him to pay off her $100,000 American Express credit card bill ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing last year in exchange for access to Trump administration officials.
“Her attorneys have since denied that claim, maintaining that she was seeking to collect roughly $150,000 in unpaid fees for speaking engagements and consulting work,” according to The Hill. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Guilfoyle boasted of private jet trips and luxury stays thanks to wealthy Greek businessmen.
McEnany added regarding Zackaria, “I would note, she began her job yesterday; she did this briefing today.”
McEnany recounted that it was two weeks between her start date as press secretary and her first briefing. “So kudos to her for just coming out and saying, ‘I’m going to do a briefing; I’m going to do it within 24 hours, and I’m going to drop this.”
Dana Perino, who was George W. Bush’s press secretary during his second term, interjected that she had two years to get her feet on the ground while serving as White House deputy press secretary under Tony Snow.
McEnany worked as an intern in the White House press shop when Perino was press secretary. She was also the national spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee in 2017 and the Trump presidential campaign in 2019 before being named White House press secretary in April 2020.
Leavitt, in turn, served under McEnany as a press assistant during Trump’s first term and as his campaign spokeswoman in 2024.
“Circle back” Psaki needs to lighten up and give Zacharia the chance to take the reins of her new job, and then judge her performance.
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