'ROUGH ALL AROUND': See the INSTANT REACTION to Katie Zacharia's 1st WH Press Briefing — Highlights

[0:00] Okay, I am just going to start tonight by saying something that I never thought I would ever say. [0:09] Caroline Leavitt, wherever you are out there, I miss you. [0:22] Good morning. [0:24] Good morning. [0:25] I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House press secretary. [0:37] I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. [0:43] I have wanted to work for him for a very long time. [0:50] I'm looking forward to working with each of you as well, especially as we are in the middle of the midterm blitz with energy and excitement never seen before in the history of midterms, thanks to President Trump. [1:07] Katie, Katie, Katie, I am so deeply uncomfortable already and I've watched it multiple times today. [1:14] I'm not going to lie, that beginning part was rough. [1:17] It was rough to digest, rough to watch. [1:19] But listen, let's focus on the positives. [1:22] Not an easy job. [1:24] You wished everyone a good morning. [1:26] It was, in fact, morning. [1:27] So good job there. [1:29] Read all those words all by yourself without having to sound anything out, at least not while standing behind the podium, maybe before. [1:36] Bit of a jolting start, I would say, but let's just, let's see, let's see where it went from there. [1:40] Just look no further than last night in Youngstown, Ohio, where President Trump delivered another blockbuster rally out on the trail. [1:53] Attendance is at record highs as enthusiastic, hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans. [2:04] It's not hard to see why. [2:09] Did you notice where she turned the page and said, read, it's not hard to see why? [2:18] Because that was necessary to read off the page. [2:20] Okay, let's just stay on the positives. [2:23] This is a little bit like a feedback sandwich. [2:25] You were able to turn the page on your script without getting a visible paper cut. [2:30] Good job. [2:31] You got right to Trump's crowd sizes. [2:33] I'm sure he was delighted about that. [2:36] Can't say you get a gold star for accuracy, though. [2:38] I mean, this was Trump's Ohio rally last night. [2:40] Not exactly record attendance. [2:42] I wouldn't call it that. [2:44] But, you know, it's never stopped any of your predecessors from lying about crowd sizes. [2:49] So on that front, at least you're given a replacement level performance so far. [2:53] Now, I do think you violated the Hatch Act at least four times at this point, and we're [2:58] not even that far into the briefing. [2:59] But honestly, you work for a man who ran campaign ads for weeks using taxpayer dollars. [3:04] So don't spend too much time worrying about that part of the feedback. [3:09] After nine minutes, Katie did start taking questions from the press. [3:13] A good sign, given the last White House press briefing was more than six weeks ago. [3:19] This is a president and administration that is looking out for you, the American people. [3:25] And I'm thrilled to officially be part of this incredible journey together. [3:32] And with that, I will take your questions. [3:36] Here in our new media seat, we have Nick Gilbertson from Breitbart. [3:41] Now, the first question from the conservative outlet Breitbart is quite a choice. [3:49] Given their current front page, it currently boasts banner headlines like Kamala Harris [3:54] addresses criticism of her crazy cackle. [3:57] Now, this is relevant for a few reasons, including the fact that traditionally, the first question [4:02] from a White House press secretary in most briefings, but certainly in the first one, [4:06] has gone to the Associated Press. [4:08] Why? [4:09] Because it's one of the oldest and most trusted news organizations in the country. [4:13] But of course, her boss Donald Trump has kicked the Associated Press out of the Oval [4:17] Office, barred them from Air Force One for the incredibly juvenile reason that they [4:21] won't call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. [4:23] So I guess they aren't currently a bet they're her best option, shall we say? [4:27] But let's see what kind of hard-hitting question Breitbart asked. [4:32] I mean, there are so many to pick from, right? [4:35] If you get the first question with the press secretary, first time briefing, there hasn't [4:39] been a briefing in six weeks, you could ask about the Iran wards, a million questions [4:43] there, Trump's historic low approval ratings were just a couple weeks out from the elections, [4:47] the easing of Russia's sanctions last Friday, J.D. Vance's freaking weird comments last night [4:52] about James Tallarico's search history. [4:55] So what did he choose to go with? [4:56] One of the things that your predecessor, Caroline Leavitt, did is open this room up to more [5:03] voices, not less. [5:05] At Breitbart, that's something our founder, Andrew Breitbart, certainly believed in. [5:09] And whether that's adding this new media seat, adding new media voices to the pool, can you [5:14] tell us what you plan to do to continue to ensure that new media voices continue to be [5:19] heard here at the White House? [5:20] Yeah. Well, firstly, my predecessor, Caroline Leavitt, did an incredible job. And I completely [5:25] agree with the choice of new media seat. We are absolutely going to keep it and we're going [5:30] to expand on it to the extent possible. [5:32] Oh, yes, everyone. At a time when we are in the middle of a war, when unemployment is skyrocketing, [5:41] when the president of the United States seems slightly to very off his rocker on most days, [5:48] the hard hitting question from Breitbart was, will you welcome in more outlets like Breitbart [5:53] to the briefing room? And the shocking news breaking answer was, yes. Yes, we will. You know why? [5:59] Because they want questions like that. Okay. Let's see who she takes a question from next. [6:06] Well, we will take Peter Doocy. [6:08] Thanks, Katie. [6:11] Ah, yes. Peter Doocy, my favorite sparring partner from the past, the good old days from [6:16] Fox News. Way to go for the hard hitters there, Katie, of all the people in the briefing room. [6:22] So he then asked her a softball question about her new role, which she responded to with, well, [6:26] let's be honest, another very garbled word salad. Not going to prolong the torture by playing [6:31] it for you. You can certainly see it for yourself if you want. But to his credit, Fox News's Peter [6:36] Doocy did follow up with a substantive question. I think one that a lot of serious reporters in [6:41] the briefing room probably wanted an answer to. In fact, it was the only real substantive policy [6:45] question that she got today, probably because she took questions for five minutes. But here's [6:51] how that question went. [6:54] And I want to ask you a policy question. Has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with Ukraine? [7:00] I'll have to get back to you on that. [7:02] I'll have to get back to you on that. Really, again, it's the one substantive policy question [7:10] she got all day. And a pretty predictable one, I would say. Okay. So again, feedback loop here, [7:18] Katie. Should you give a second press briefing? Should you give one? Here are just a couple of [7:23] basics to just get you started on your prep. Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago. Despite that, [7:28] your boss has invited Vladimir Putin back into the world stage and just had a warm and fuzzy sounding [7:33] call with him last week that ended with Trump lifting sanctions on Russia. The Ukrainians are [7:37] suspicious for good reasons about your boss's intentions and whether or not they're getting [7:42] the intel they need. So yeah, maybe that one, that should be on the tippy top of the list of topics [7:47] you're prepared for next time. Now, after that, Katie only called on one other journalist, a reporter [7:53] from the right-leaning Daily Mail, who asked, which happens, felt to me like a pre-planned question [8:00] to tee up the personnel news that she got to break today. The news that Kimberly Guilfoyle would resign [8:07] her post as ambassador to Greece. Of course, that was before the reporter transitioned to another [8:12] softball about how Katie balances her work and family life. And then this happened. [8:16] I adore my family. I love them. They are my priority. I love being with my kids. The idea [8:26] of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable. So my president, excuse me, my [8:33] husband, that's a good one. Okay. She loves her family and kids. We love all of that. Everybody [8:42] should love all of that. But one more note for your briefing book, Katie. Try not to confuse your [8:47] husband with the president, especially in the times we're living in. Just ask Natalie Harp. [8:54] Make sure you can tell those two guys apart. Draw yourself a little diagram if you have to. [9:00] After all that, after all of that, everyone, okay, after talking for nine minutes and then calling on [9:05] three, one, two, three reporters from right-wing outlets, Katie Zachariah ended her first press briefing. [9:13] The whole thing took about 14 minutes. I will tell you, I took questions on about 25 topics. [9:20] You can check the tape. I'm sure basically everybody who's had the job before me did the [9:25] same thing. And she only spent five minutes of her briefing taking questions from the press, [9:33] much of which seemed either pre-planned or very soft-volley. And the reviews, well, they were [9:41] brutal, even from inside the Trump administration. One White House official told MSNOW getting behind [9:46] the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better fast. [9:51] Otherwise, she'll break Scaramucci's record. Now that's, of course, a reference to Anthony [9:56] Scaramucci, the communications director in Trump's first administration, who was fired [10:00] just 11 days into the job after he accidentally, so we think, told a reporter on the record that [10:08] Steve Bannon sucks his own. You know what? Just Google that one. Now another White House official [10:14] called Zachariah's performance rough all around, adding the press and the administration are all [10:19] probably thinking the same thing. We miss Caroline. When MSNOW asked that official what [10:24] specifically went wrong, they said, I don't know how you single out one thing. It was all tough. [10:32] Like the whole performance was so bad that not one, but not two, but four separate sources [10:39] felt the need to leak to the Washington Post that Trump bypassed his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, [10:44] when he decided to appoint Zachariah. So maybe this whole White House press secretary thing isn't [10:51] really for Katie. It's not for everybody. Maybe it's just not the job she was meant for. That's [10:57] okay, right? I mean, she could always go back to the job she had before all of this, which was, [11:01] what was that again? I'm a lawyer. I went to Pepperdine, Pepperdine Law. I practiced corporate [11:08] law. I was a corporate lawyer. I practiced corporate law and practiced law as a corporate [11:13] lawyer. I practiced corporate law, especially as a lawyer and a former corporate lawyer. I mean, [11:19] I'm a lawyer and I'm a rigorous researcher. Rigorous researcher. I don't know. But anyway, [11:26] so she says she's a lawyer, a corporate lawyer, which would be a great career to fall back on, [11:30] right? Except that new reporting from Judd LeJume at Popular Info revealed today that Katie Zachariah [11:37] is not listed as a member of the State Bar of California, the state where she lives, nor is she [11:41] listed as a member of the State Bar of Texas or as a member of the DC Bar, the two other places where [11:46] she worked. The Washington Post followed up with their own investigation into Katie Zachariah's [11:51] legal credentials and could not find any active or expired bar emissions under her married or maiden [11:57] name, which is pretty odd, especially when you consider that her LinkedIn account claims that she [12:03] was once the general counsel of a conservative nonprofit called Fix California. Now, Trump himself [12:09] even referred to her as an attorney when announcing his decision to appoint her as his press secretary. [12:14] So where exactly is Katie Zachariah licensed to practice law? It is a very weird mystery, [12:19] right? Well, she was asked again today about that while standing with the president outside the [12:25] White House. And here's what she said. It's a little hard to hear there. We tried to do some [12:41] captions for you just in case. But she's asked a very straightforward question about where she passed [12:46] the bar. Right. It's very straightforward. And she seems to respond when I moved to China. Now, [12:54] when asked to clarify, a White House spokesperson later told reporters Katie moved to China with [12:58] her husband after graduating because of his job at an American private equity firm while she worked [13:03] on international transaction law, which is totally fine. You move with your husband by all means. [13:08] But it definitely does not in any way answer the very simple question about where she passed the bar. [13:12] As one legal expert told The Washington Post, she could not have passed the Chinese bar exam [13:17] either, since you have to be a Chinese national to take it. So Donald Trump appears to have chosen [13:23] as his White House press secretary a potentially fake lawyer. I don't know. I mean, she could answer [13:29] the questions and provide clarity, who only seems to take questions from friendly reporters and still [13:34] cannot get through a 14 minute briefing without stumbling over her notes. But the whole thing, [13:39] let's be honest, is objectively funny. OK, we've had some fun with it. It's also quite serious. [13:46] I mean, no one has ever done the job perfectly. No one has done it perfectly every day at all, [13:51] either. But for decades, the White House press secretary, through presidents who are Democrats [13:55] and presidents who are Republicans, has been a vehicle for providing information to the American [14:00] public, for answering tough questions, for showing the world that the United States values [14:04] the role of a free press. And having a forum for reporters, real reporters, to ask tough questions [14:10] of the White House is also an important part of a healthy democracy. Every country does not have [14:15] this in the world. So is giving reporters access to the White House, by the way. You can't just [14:21] gesture at the idea of press freedom by putting a figure like Katie Zachariah behind the White [14:25] House podium and say you're doing briefings. But Donald Trump has been slowly and systematically [14:32] hacking away at the kind of press freedom that is necessary to cover a presidential administration. [14:37] He's lowered our expectations for what a functioning press office looks like, for what a press [14:41] secretary should be able to do from behind the podium, to be honest. Well, at the same time, [14:48] outlets, from the White House grounds, and from the press pool, and from access to places [14:52] you need to be if you're going to cover the White House. It's all related. It's not separate [14:56] stories. It's about cutting off the right of the public to know what is happening in the [15:00] White House, to know what the president is up to every day. [15:03] Every Trump White House press secretary would never have been offered employment in any other [15:11] White House. Every Trump White House press secretary has lied on their very first day at the podium [15:18] in the press briefing room, beginning with Sean Spicer, who was given the job of lying about the size [15:25] of the crowd at Donald Trump's first inauguration. But not every Trump White House press secretary [15:33] violated the law in their very first statement to the press. But that did happen today with the new [15:39] Trump White House press secretary, who has claimed to be a lawyer, even though she cannot prove that she is a [15:47] lawyer. It was a premeditated violation of law. It was written. You can watch Donald Trump's new [15:57] White House press secretary, Katie Zechariah, reading her violation of the Hatch Act in her very [16:05] first statement from the White House podium. [16:07] Good morning. I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House [16:22] press secretary. I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted [16:32] to work for him for a very long time. I'm looking forward to working with each of you as well, [16:39] especially as we are in the middle of the midterm blitz with energy and excitement never seen before [16:49] in the history of midterms. Thanks to President Trump. Just look no further than last night in [16:56] Youngstown, Ohio, where President Trump delivered another blockbuster rally out on the trail. The arena [17:05] was overflowing with enthusiasm as thousands came out to support President Trump. [17:11] She's reading her premeditated violation of law. That is a violation of the Hatch Act, [17:19] which makes it illegal for a government employee to comment on political campaigns, which she did [17:25] much more of today and which Katie Zechariah chose to do. She chose to do that in her very first public [17:34] sentences as the Trump White House press secretary. The Hatch Act is not a criminal law. There is no [17:41] criminal penalty for violating the Hatch Act as we discovered during the first Trump presidency where [17:48] it was violated constantly by Kellyanne Conway and other Trump government workers. That law is supposed [17:54] to be enforced in the workplace by the federal workers superior. But the federal workers in the White [18:03] House are supervised by Donald Trump, whose disregard for the law has earned him 34 guilty verdicts in one [18:11] criminal trial. There was a quick negative reaction by many in the White House press corps and the [18:17] Washington news media today when Katie Zechariah did what they thought was a really, really bad job [18:24] in her first day as Trump White House press secretary. And they're right. It was a bad job. But what some [18:31] of them, many of them, are very, very wrong about is the notion that her predecessor, Caroline Leavitt, [18:39] was somehow better at that job. She was not. Caroline Leavitt lied in virtually every single [18:48] thing she said at that podium for and about Donald Trump. And so Katie Zechariah's improvement [18:56] over Caroline Leavitt at this point is that she doesn't take up as much of our time lying as Caroline [19:03] Leavitt did. When she was asked a substantive question, has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with [19:11] Ukraine? She said, I'll have to get back to you on that. And then there was this odd, deeply odd stumble. [19:22] So my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a that's a good one. My husband is out here, [19:32] is out here for the week because we have two birthdays in our family and we are very, [19:37] very protective of celebrating birthdays as a family. My president, excuse me, my husband. [19:49] Okay. How nervous do you have to be to confuse Donald Trump with your husband? There was one [19:59] newsmaking moment, or we should say news confirming moment. First of all, on Kimberly Gilfoyle, [20:09] the Daily Mail has been reporting on her since last year. The president said yesterday to reporters [20:14] that he is considering firing her, do you know a timeline for that? And also potentially who could [20:20] be on the short list to replace her if he does? We have asked Ambassador Gilfoyle to resign. She has [20:28] been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well. And so it fell to the latest lying incompetent [20:35] White House press secretary to announce the requested resignation of the lying incompetent corrupt [20:41] Trump ambassador to Greece. Kimberly Gilfoyle, who has been publicly shown in texts obtained by the [20:49] Wall Street Journal, asking a rich and apparently at least half crazy Trump donor to pay her $100,000 [20:57] American Express bill. A lawyer for Gilfoyle told the journal that the ambassador disputed the [21:04] authenticity of the messages, but declined to provide specifics. That is the one apparent piece of [21:13] corruption revealed in this version of the Trump administration that Donald Trump cannot abide [21:19] asking for help with your credit card bill. That's a scandal now in the Trump administration. Maybe [21:28] because even Donald Trump knows that his voters know what a credit card bill is, and they know how [21:37] hard it is to pay their credit card bills, especially with Donald Trump pumping up the costs they face [21:44] every time they use that credit card at a gas station. Minutes later, outside the White House, Donald [21:50] Trump was asked if he spoke with Kimberly Gilfoyle personally about requesting that resignation. And he [21:58] said this. I didn't speak to her now, but she will not be there. I didn't like what I read. [22:07] I didn't like what I read. That's Donald Trump saying, I read reporting in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere [22:16] about Kimberly Gilfoyle's corruption, and I believed it because I believe that kind of reporting. The Wall Street [22:24] Journal is the same newspaper that Donald Trump is suing for revealing the existence of a birthday card with [22:29] Donald Trump's signature on it for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday, which says happy birthday and may every day be [22:36] another wonderful secret. Donald Trump falsely accused the Wall Street Journal of making that up. [22:42] And now Donald Trump is using reporting by the Wall Street Journal to fire an ambassador. Ambassador [22:51] Gilfoyle announced her resignation minutes later, whereupon her ability to get rich Trump donors to [22:58] pay her credit card bills dropped dramatically. Donald Trump's new White House press secretary claims to [23:06] be a lawyer, but reporting by Judd Legum indicates that she is not a member of the bar in any state. [23:16] There is no evidence that she has ever taken or passed a bar exam, and you are not a lawyer if you do not [23:24] have a license to practice law, a license that any lawyer can show you at any moment. You don't get that [23:32] from by graduating from law school. There are many people who graduate from law school and are not [23:38] lawyers. They never take the bar exam. They never intend to practice law. They never get licensed. [23:45] One reporter is questioning Donald Trump in the driveway as he was leaving for his trip to campaign [23:50] in Alaska tonight asked him, in which state did his new press secretary pass the bar exam? Donald Trump [23:59] turned to her and asked, which state? Those were his words, which state? And it's kind of muffled in [24:07] the audio. But we know that what she said was a one word answer, China, which is not a state. The [24:17] follow up question and the difficulty here exchange was, where did you pass the bar exam to which her [24:23] answer was, quote, when I moved to China, end quote. And then reporters moved on. So she's licensed [24:35] to practice law in China, where the bar exam is given in Chinese and only Chinese citizens are allowed to [24:45] take that bar exam? Or is she licensed in the state of California, where she graduated from law school? [24:55] State of California does not offer a bar exam in China. She has repeatedly claimed to be a lawyer, [25:06] and she is clearly lying about that because if she were a lawyer, she could show you her license to [25:14] practice law. Instead, she says the word China in response to the question of where she passed the bar [25:24] exam. She is now the only lawyer in America who cannot prove that she is a lawyer because [25:31] she is obviously not a lawyer. Donald Trump changed his story today about his deal with Vladimir Putin [25:40] to buy diesel fuel from Russia. It is illegal, of course, to buy diesel fuel from Russia because [25:46] Congress has enacted sanction laws that make that illegal. When Donald Trump announced the deal, [25:52] he was very, very proud of what was his apparent intention to violate that law. He said Russia will [25:58] immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace. Today, [26:07] he said that diesel fuel is not for us. [26:11] The Republicans in the Senate were upset about this diesel deal. [26:18] Has somebody told you that Russia is not just going to take this diesel money [26:23] and use it to buy box? Nobody told me anything. That's a diesel deal not for us. That's being [26:30] released into the world. That's not being released to us. That's a diesel deal that's going to be [26:35] released into the world for the world market because the world market suffered with high prices. [26:41] That is a completely different story to what Donald Trump first told about what he thought was his [26:48] brilliant, but it turns out illegal deal with Vladimir Putin proposed by Vladimir Putin about [26:56] which Donald Trump said today, nobody's told me anything. It sounded like one of those little [27:03] bursts of truth from Donald Trump. Nobody's told me anything. He sounds like a person who knows nothing. [27:10] He sounds like a person who no one has told anything. He had no idea what to say today about the big war news, [27:19] which is that his war with Iran has now spread to Saudi Arabia where the airport in the capital [27:24] city of Riyadh, which Saudi Arabia likes to pretend is as safe as the airport in Miami, [27:30] was bombed in an attack from the Houthis who have been battling Saudi Arabia for years now. [27:36] They're behaving very badly. I mean, if I told you I made a decision, that would be... [27:48] The Houthis have acted very badly. How weak is that? That's it. That's your [27:56] commander in chief. They have acted very badly. That's all he's got. [28:02] Good evening from New York. I'm Chris Hayes. Donald Trump approaches the presidency the same [28:07] way he approached reality TV. Instead of civil servants, he hires characters out of what he says [28:12] is central casting. And by central casting, he means that to his very good brain. [28:18] His choices for cabinet secretaries and ambassadors and staffers and spokespeople [28:23] have to look the part for their role in the awful movie that is this presidency. [28:28] None of it ever has to do with what we might call actual merit, qualifications, [28:33] skills, abilities, experience. And now 21 days until the midterms, a lot more people are noticing [28:38] the devastating effect that is having on their government and their lives. [28:42] We are seeing a sustained effort to destroy the quality of the people in the government, [28:48] to replace them with hacks, grifters, and scoundrels. Today, the White House announced the [28:53] resignation of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador of Greece, the former Fox News host and [28:58] ex-fiancé of Donald Trump Jr. with no diplomatic experience whatsoever. She was plagued by a [29:03] series of recent stories about her closeness to political donors and lobbyists bragging at one [29:07] point about how she could destroy a country. One of those donors was one that says she hit him up for [29:14] $100,000 to pay her credit card bill, but she did not want to pay portrayal. [29:18] Now, Guilfoyle denies the allegations, but the honey please headline was embarrassing enough [29:23] that even Trump quickly distanced himself from the woman whose, again, [29:27] chief qualification was her closeness to the Trump family. [29:30] No, she wasn't a member of my family. She, uh, I guess dated my son a long time ago, [29:42] but she wasn't. No, she, uh, she went to Greece. She was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we [29:48] were reading. [29:49] The booting of Kimberly Guilfoyle was announced today by the new White House press secretary, [29:55] Katie Zachariah, in a pretty shaky debut at the briefing room podium. Zachariah calls herself a [30:02] lawyer, but reporters could not find evidence she's ever been licensed to practice law. [30:07] When a reporter asked where she passed the bar today, Zachariah said she practiced law, [30:11] quote, when I moved to China, which is strange since China does not allow non-citizens to join [30:16] the bar association or even sit for the Chinese bar exam. In fact, the bar exam they give there has [30:21] like a passage rate of 10 to 15% administered in Mandarin would be a pretty amazing biographical [30:27] fact if she just went there and smoked that exam. She doesn't have much communications experience [30:33] either, unless you count her many conspiracy-laced social media posts, which were deleted but recovered [30:39] by reporters at the Bulwark and CNN, posts in which she claimed Democrats and Hollywood elites were [30:43] pedophiles and cannibals, posts in which she boosted claims of stolen elections, defended the January 6th [30:48] insurrection. She also promoted a repost claiming that, ready for this one, comedian Joan Rivers died [30:54] mysteriously after saying that former President Barack Obama was gay and that former First Lady [30:59] Michelle Obama had a penis. Central casting, I guess. She may not have any experience or, [31:05] frankly, class, but how hard is the job anyway? I want to thank President Trump for his trust that [31:14] he has placed in me. I have wanted to work for him for a very long time. He had a historic one-day war [31:24] and now we are have a booming economy and a great relationship with Venezuela. This includes as much as [31:32] 120 billion dollars to build eight large-scale nuclear power plants. In addition to that, [31:40] we will be, we will be, he had, there's 54 billion dollars tied to the Alaska LNG pipeline and terminal [31:50] to service the Pacific Rim and sell fuel to our allies. The idea of not spending evenings with my [31:56] kid, kids are, is completely unacceptable. So my president, or excuse me, my husband, that's a, [32:04] that's a good one. Has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with Ukraine? I'll have to get back to you on that. [32:10] You know when you got like a little kid, they just learned how to ride a bike, [32:13] and you're like watching them, it's like, [32:16] clenched the whole time. Don't fall. Just another batch of Trump appointees who are manifestly unable [32:24] to do the job. Political scientists have a name for this kind of government, coined by the Greeks [32:28] way back when, cacastocracy. It's government by the least qualified, least scrupulous citizens. [32:34] Think of it as sort of full-spectrum affirmative action program for America's worst people. [32:40] This is also how Donald Trump apparently selects his hand-picked Republican candidates. [32:44] There is, of course, Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, whose own Republican colleagues impeached [32:49] him, who only has the position as the nominee because Donald Trump backed him. Video recently [32:55] surfaced of the then-married Paxton partying in 2024 at the luxury Dubai high-rise with a woman [33:01] the Wall Street Journal calls his girlfriend, and notably, two men who have been indicted in the [33:06] U.S. for healthcare fraud, one of whom is a major Paxton donor. And when I say healthcare fraud, [33:10] I mean millions and millions and millions of dollars of healthcare fraud. [33:14] Then there's Max Miller. That's the Republican congressman who joined Trump at an Ohio rally last [33:20] night, even as other Republicans have demanded Miller drop out amid a spate of allegations [33:23] of violence and abuse, which he denies. Trump even gave Miller a shout-out last night. [33:31] Everybody needs to get out and vote for Vivek. And also, you need to get out and vote and re-elect for [33:39] Congressman Mike Rooley and Congressman Max Miller, who's here. Thank you, Max, for coming. Thank you. [33:47] Very good. Thank you. [33:48] Again, after these really lurid, awful allegations about how Max Miller has behaved towards his wife [33:56] and their daughter, allegations that surfaced with his father-in-law, Senator Bernie Marino, [34:02] who's talked about the toll that Miller's behavior has taken on his family. A lot of [34:06] people on the Republican side would like Miller to drop out, but not Trump. And of course not. [34:12] He's done this everywhere, including in South Carolina. That is where Darlene Graham is running [34:17] for a full term as a U.S. Senator. Now, let me just be clear. Darlene Graham is not in the same [34:22] category as Max Miller at all. But she also is a person who has zero qualifications to be a U.S. [34:27] Senator, other than the fact that her brother was the late Senator Lindsey Graham. She was named to [34:32] finish out her brother's term in July, just hours after Trump endorsed her. And even in South Carolina, [34:38] pretty Republican state with a very rabidly pro-Trump base, many Republicans are worried that Graham is so [34:45] obviously, so manifestly, so woefully unprepared that she puts the seat at risk. Say what you will [34:52] about Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham was informed on world affairs. But when his sister got a primary [34:57] debate question about U.S. interests in Taiwan, this is how she answered. I'm just going to be honest [35:04] here. I'm not on national security that I'm not that informed on national security. So I do support [35:13] the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years. I'm not a polished politician up here. [35:21] National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military. [35:27] I mean, again, no shade. I'm not sure how well any of us would perform in a random Senate debate, [35:35] but then we wouldn't try to be a U.S. Senator, right? This is how United States Senators and [35:40] ambassadors and cabinet members and staffers are being picked. All that seems to matter is who can [35:47] get in front of Donald Trump's eyes because Natalie showed him a printout or Dan Scavino showed him the [35:52] phone. We are witnessing the complete hollowing out of the government of qualified people and [35:56] their replacements with the worst people, Trump's people, people who constantly talk about meritocracy [36:03] and the dangers of diversity, equity and inclusion in DEI while firing dedicated career civil servants and [36:09] generals and admirals who are, surprise, surprise, overwhelmingly people of color and women to be [36:15] replaced with these completely contemptible and incompetent buffoons. Today, a White House [36:21] debut nearly 50 days in the making was over in less than 15 minutes. Good morning. [36:30] I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House press [36:40] Secretary. I am going to end it because President Trump is heading out to Marine One for our historic [36:46] trip to Alaska and we can ask him all of the questions out there. So thank you so much. [36:53] With her head mostly down, reading from prepared remarks, Katie Zachariah's first opportunity to [36:58] speak to the press was short on almost everything, time, questions and information. The president said she [37:05] was, quote, very good. But that opinion is apparently not shared by everyone in the White House. [37:09] One official telling MSNOW just 10 minutes after she rapped, quote, getting behind the podium is [37:14] tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get better much. It needs to get much better [37:19] fast. Otherwise, she'll break Scaramucci's record. That reference was to Anthony Scaramucci's historically [37:25] short 11 day stretch as White House communications director. I want to bring back Vaughn Hilliard and [37:31] Sawyer Hack. All right, Vaughn, we went 47 days without a White House press secretary. Levitt's last formal [37:36] briefing was nearly 12 weeks ago. Talk about the role these briefings play in reporters like yourself [37:42] being able to hold the administration accountable on behalf of the American people, because today [37:47] felt to me more like a get to know you than a substantive exchange. And I wonder just how unusual [37:53] that is. Unusual. Usually on the first day of a press briefing for a press secretary, they take at least [38:00] a dozen or more questions across a variety of outlets. And that's not what happened here today. [38:06] Instead, Zachariah took questions from Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail, and then promptly [38:12] informs everybody that she was done for the day. That is not normal here. And I think that there's two [38:18] parts to this job. I think that this is actually perhaps the second most important part of it. And [38:23] because it doesn't happen quite as frequently, necessarily. There are some press secretaries [38:28] that have done a press briefing almost every day. And it is an opportunity for reporters to push the [38:34] executive branch on providing some timelines, some sort of direction for the public about specifics, [38:40] but in place of not being able to interview the president of the United States every day. [38:44] But the other part of it is the press office in the communications office, as you know, [38:49] being able to establish relationships with reporters and news organizations so that we can go back and [38:55] forth behind the scenes to get some clarification on standard policy questions to ensure that we are [39:02] informing our audience of the efforts of the executive branch, whether it be from legislation that [39:07] they're pushing for in policy or, you know, executive orders in the case of this White House. And that [39:12] is where that is the next level of concern is just the extent to which this communications office will [39:17] effectively be able to communicate with the vast number of news organizations to offer such [39:22] clarifications and information. [39:23] So you've been a spokesperson for candidates, not quite the same as being the White House press [39:29] secretary, but you understand the pressure or the stakes of speaking on behalf of someone other [39:34] than yourself. It is not an easy job. What is the cost to the American people in the middle of an ongoing [39:41] war of a White House that claims to be transparent, but sends out a messenger that either can't or won't feel [39:47] hard questions? I mean, I think we lose an incredible amount of information. I mean, it's not just, [39:53] you know, that we don't have this White House press briefing every day where we get to ask, [39:57] you know, questions of the White House and their policies and the status of things like war in the [40:01] Middle East. But they're also just putting out blatant lies after lies, press releases and statements [40:07] that that are completely devoid of fact and, you know, devoid of the truth. Yeah. And being a press [40:12] secretary is an incredibly difficult job. But that was one of the weirdest, most disjointed, [40:17] most awkward press briefings that I've ever seen in my life. And I think that's saying something. [40:22] And yeah, I mean, being a press press secretary for the White House is one of the most difficult [40:26] jobs in the country. But did they not test her out? Did they not? You know, has she not ever done [40:31] this before? Did they not have her step in front of a podium before, you know, giving giving this a [40:36] swing? It was a very strange briefing. And I think it made Caroline Levitt look like James Madison [40:42] as far as being an orator. So I'm not sure how long she's going to last. I think Donald Trump [40:48] really prizes, you know, the ability to speak to the press, the ability to communicate on camera. [40:53] And maybe this was just the first day jitters. Maybe she'll bring it back tomorrow. But it doesn't [40:58] appear that she has those same kind of oratorical skills that I think you need in a White House press [41:03] secretary. Ron, the questions that Sawyer just asked about the vetting that was done here, [41:07] he is not the only one asking those questions. There have been a lot of questions about how she [41:12] got this job, whether she embellished or lied about being a lawyer. Just take a listen. [41:32] What do we know about her background exactly? [41:35] Well, on her LinkedIn profile, she says she graduated from Pepperdine Law School. And in [41:40] response, she eventually suggested it sounded like, based on the audio that was captured, [41:44] that she said that she passed the bar exam before she went to China, which was in 2011, [41:49] where, according to her LinkedIn profile, she worked for a Chinese law firm for two years. [41:54] The subsect newsletter, Popular Information, reported that it was not apparent that she passed the bar [42:00] exam in any state in the U.S. or in Washington, D.C. And that's where that opportunity to ask her was [42:08] sort of open-ended there. And it does not appear that the president had specifics. And look, anybody [42:13] can play the role of a press secretary. But I think that part of this is also a serious question as to [42:19] the extent to which she has peddled conspiracy theories and whether she is an active attorney [42:25] or not, and the extent to which she has deep legal background or not. She is somebody that has peddled in [42:31] on factual information and has propagated it and somebody that has done a great deal of commentating [42:38] on TV to peddle those conspiracy theories and now is serving in the port and capacity in which she [42:42] speaks on behalf of a president of the United States, who far and away often lies and does not [42:47] stick to the actual facts. [42:49] Ron Hilliard, thank you so much for being with us. It is so good to have you back. [42:53] Peter, you have been in that White House press briefing room maybe more than any of our other [43:01] colleagues. Ambassador Maloney brought it up just a moment ago. Violation of the Hatch Act and Katie [43:09] Zacharias pledge to always tell the truth. Two important points that were made. Let me start by [43:16] saying I've been in that briefing room for, I think, each of the last nine press secretaries dating back [43:21] to Barack Obama's time in office. A couple of things that strike me here. One, to the ambassador's [43:26] point on the Hatch Act, I think the first call by reporters, including myself, which I'll make after [43:31] this is to the Office of Special Counsel because they, of course, are the government agency that enforce [43:36] the Hatch Act here. You'll remember past press secretaries would often go out of their way to [43:42] say they didn't want to violate the Hatch Act. They didn't want to be politicking as their duty as a [43:48] civil servant there. As a representative of this administration, you're not allowed to do that [43:54] absent the vice president and the president. She obviously did it without solicitation. She offered [44:00] it up, a series of political statements in her first comments. So that would be one of my first [44:04] questions as a takeaway from this. Number two, what was striking to me is that no one, and I acknowledge [44:09] there were only three reporters who were called on there, no one did what has been done [44:13] in almost each of, in almost every one of the cases where a press secretary showed up [44:19] for the first time, which is ask a very fundamental question. This was a job traditionally [44:23] that was done by the Associated Press because by tradition, the AP, which sits in the front row [44:28] in the middle seat, would have this opportunity. They would ask, as they asked Corrine Jean-Pierre in 2022, [44:33] do you view your primary role here as speaking for the president or promoting his interests, [44:38] or are you committed to providing the unvarnished truth to the American people? To Kayleigh McEnany, [44:43] the AP didn't get the first question. They got the fourth question, but they asked, [44:46] are you planning to do these on a daily basis? And will you pledge never to lie to us [44:51] from that podium? It's a key question that's been done by reporters for years to basically make clear [44:56] to the American people that this person who is going to be speaking on behalf of the president, [45:00] on behalf of the administration, recognizes that their first job is to the truth before anything [45:05] else. That didn't get asked. And then finally, what was striking to me was one of the questions [45:09] from the reporters as it related to the topic of Kimberly Guilfoyle. You've talked about the [45:13] issue about Ukraine, but on Kimberly Guilfoyle, she said, she said, Zachariah said that the White [45:19] House has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign. The reporter said, okay, and moved on to her next [45:25] question. What should have been done there is, has she resigned? Is she no longer serving as the U.S. [45:30] ambassador to Greece? Where is she now? Has the president spoken with her? What is the [45:35] U.S. going to do to hold her accountable for these things for which you believe she should resign? [45:41] None of those follow up questions were asked, which I think is really critically important. [45:44] And to the point that you and your colleagues, our team there on set with you has been asking, [45:49] this is the unique opportunity or responsibility of reporters to speak on behalf of the American [45:54] people to get answers to these questions. But more often, I think the biggest difference in this [46:00] briefing room that I've seen over the course of the 15, 14 years that I was covering the White [46:04] House is the changing face of the reporters in that room where it's so many more influencers [46:10] and sycophants than it is traditional journalists who recognize their advocacy is for the facts before [46:16] it's for either party. And I think that's sadly what's lost more than anything else. [46:21] Wow. I want to just read this to you, quote, from a White House official reacting to Zachariah's first [46:28] press briefing that we got just now. They were granted anonymity to speak candidly to MS Now, [46:34] quote, getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much [46:41] better fast. Otherwise, she'll break Scaramucci's record. Our colleague, Jake Traylor, just reported [46:48] this. That's a bit of a wow, Peter, because I'm going to say I watched it thinking Trump must be happy [46:54] as a clam. But the fact that we're hearing this from inside the White House, people inside the [46:59] White House, maybe they're they're feeling a stroke of courage, you know, sort of or they're looking [47:05] through the lens of Trump's first administration, saying we need to put forward a front to your [47:10] original point. We're even seeming like we're here for the American people, while the Associated Press [47:15] maybe didn't have the opportunity to ask, are you here to tell the truth and represent the American [47:20] people? You didn't need to ask that question. The first thing she said was we're just coming off of [47:24] Trump rally. I'm going to go to a whole lot more Trump rallies. Trump rallies are not public [47:29] services for the American people. They're political rallies for the president to advance his political [47:35] agenda. This may as well have been a MAGA Inc, the Super PAC press briefing taking place there, [47:40] as opposed to a White House press briefing taking place there. I agree with everything that you just [47:44] said in particular. It's interesting to hear that Scaramucci was there for 11 days. I'll never forget [47:49] those days as he was parading up and down what we call Pebble Beach, where all the tents are, [47:54] and the reporters there do their live shots. But what was particularly interesting to me [48:00] is the way that she came out of the gates, and you guys have made note of this, reading off of her [48:04] notes. Because remember the way the president spoke, I think, in artful, to be generous terms, [48:09] about Caroline Leavitt. What he liked is he said when her lips are moving, it was like a machine gun, [48:14] I think was some of his language or something like that. She had, whether you can disagree with [48:18] her policy position, certainly, and oftentimes when she at best fudged the facts, but she did have [48:26] a control of her content. She knew what she was speaking about. She had direct access to the [48:31] president. It was obvious in the opening remarks of Zachariah here that she was clearly reading, [48:36] but didn't have any comfort speaking before an audience like this. And the president who uses this [48:42] phrase has said it to me and others is all about central casting. Who looks the part? [48:47] I think by his standards, he would agree she looks the part, but she doesn't deliver the part in [48:52] terms of her ability to communicate an audience and look like she has control of her content, [48:56] her copy or his position. And I think that's going to be the fundamental challenge she's going to face [49:00] right out of the gates. Big time. That's the problem is that it's one thing to look the part, [49:07] but you got to be able to play the part. And that for this job means being able to ask tough, [49:11] substantive questions on the fly, off the cuff. It demands competence and content. And that's the [49:18] real open question. The reason she didn't get answered the traditional question from the AP [49:22] is that we all know that the answer doesn't matter because the real answer is no. [49:27] The Trump press secretary's job at this stage is not to tell the truth. It is to tell Donald Trump's [49:32] truth. No, no, no, that's not true. No, that is what the job is. But let's not, let's be clear. [49:38] The job hasn't changed. How the president wants the job executed has changed. [49:42] That's the point I'm making. It's the job of being Donald Trump's [49:46] secretary, not the press secretary for the White House on behalf of the American people. [49:49] But we as the American people shouldn't move the goalposts because Trump wants us to. [49:52] We should keep them exactly where they're supposed to be. [49:55] Where they are. But let's also be honest that that is not part of the job qualification he is [49:59] seeking, nor is it part of the job that the person filling this job is trying to do. [50:03] You're absolutely right. [50:04] Okay. You know, I'll just make a quick point that, and Peter and Vaughan brought this up, [50:09] we are a country at war. Service members have lost their lives. [50:14] This is a good point. [50:14] And none of this has been discussed today from that White House. No questions about it. [50:22] No real engagement on this issue. This country is at war. And it's striking to me that we are in a, [50:30] we're in a place where this, as everybody has said, that this president just wants somebody to look [50:36] the part. Because what are you trying to get across to the American people that this is nothing [50:42] but they're just watching a wrestling match. You know, this is just entertainment. It's spectator [50:47] sport. There are no real issues being discussed here. And I go back to the earlier point that any [50:54] other, we're talking about what typical press secretaries do. What a typical White House would do [50:59] is send people on these message events to tell the American people what their victories are. What [51:05] are their wins? Not telling us, it may not be a political event like who to vote for. But it's, [51:11] it's more of and I will give her credit for this very small part on what they did in Ohio. Like, [51:17] go out and talk about that. But they don't do that kind of stuff. What they do is, is just talk about, [51:23] you know, the biggest rally in the history of history. [51:27] But ambassador, here's the thing. When she was asked the question about like, [51:31] how are you going to handle it as a working mom? I originally thought that question was so sexist [51:37] and beneath her station. Yeah. [51:39] But in fact, that's the question she wanted to answer. She actually wanted to answer the question [51:44] about bringing her kids and where her husband's going to be when that's absolutely irrelevant to the [51:49] the American people. And to Basil's point, to military, military moms who are watching this, [51:56] desperate for information of what's actually happening in Iran, what will be the plight of [52:00] their children who are serving the country? They don't give a hoot whether or not she's bringing her [52:04] kids to the press briefing room. Yeah. Although, you know, it's an interesting point, right? Because [52:08] I know this will shock all of you, but sometimes reporters can be a little jaded. [52:13] And and yet in this first encounter, you actually have, you know, you actually get some leeway, [52:19] right? You get this is your first day. Everybody understands that. But but but my goodness, [52:23] she actually had some news, which is that and it's actually, you know, useful for her in that moment, [52:29] which is we're firing Kimberly Guilfoyle. But good. And it seems to me, if nothing else, [52:34] you could feed the beast and give him that to chew on. And there's a lot to chew on. Right. Well, [52:39] you're going to, you know, you're going to prosecute her. What the hell is she doing? Who is going to [52:42] pay the MX bill? I mean, let's let's be honest. I mean, those bills don't pay themselves. [52:48] So so, you know, she could have deployed that, it seems to me, as a way to as a way to keep the [52:53] press chewing on something. It is inexcusable to me that you don't have an answer on Ukraine. [52:57] And then as Vaughn points out, you're sort of making news by not saying anything, which is I've been on [53:02] the House Intelligence Committee. There's only two things we really do for the Ukrainians. We give them [53:06] intelligence and we we give weapons that the Europeans pay for. And that is a pillar of their [53:11] opposition. Not answering that question is massively newsworthy. I'm not sure that she doesn't know the [53:17] answer. I'm sure that she's not giving the answer. There is a way to answer that question, which which [53:23] is to tread water, even if you need to get clarification on it. I don't think she passed [53:27] that test. I think it made her seem unprepared. And it left a real question mark over a very important [53:33] foreign policy issue. And then to Basil's point and yours, there's real stuff going on out there. [53:38] And if my kids serving on the U.S. Abraham Lincoln, you know, I want to know somebody down there is [53:43] paying attention and they got a strategy to get us get us out of this war. You know, if you're a farmer [53:47] paying six fifty for diesel, you're like, how long are we doing this? And you're not getting anything from [53:52] this. And so just to pull the lens back for someone trying to do politics, their politics are terrible right [53:57] now. And we're we're three weeks out from the midterms where a thumping is coming and none of [54:02] this stuff is going to stop it. But it reads like the late Roman Empire. Right. I mean, this is this [54:07] is an administration that's more concerned about how someone looks than the substance and the reality [54:11] of the job. And it doesn't it hurts America. Right. Because the world looks at this as the White [54:16] House press secretary and says the person cannot answer a direct question about whether the U.S. is [54:22] sharing intelligence to Ukraine after we just violated a whole bunch of laws in that particular [54:27] hearing. We had a 16 minute first day press briefing with precisely one minute of substance. [54:33] And for the president, that's a feature, not a bug. Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the [54:38] end of that clip, because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and [54:43] all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch [54:49] things live or recorded. Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly [54:55] live chats. You can go to MSNOW membership or just click below. Thanks.