Katie Zacharia Is ‘Transitioning Out’ as Press Secretary After Nightmare First Week

How do you measure an implosion? Pounds per square inch? Microseconds? A head of lettuce? A Scaramucci? Well, White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia is on a run to shatter the scales.

Just three days into her new gig as the chosen replacement for former Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Zacharia is already on the ropes after a series of embarrassing revelations and on-camera fumbles.

The crisis began Tuesday, during Zacharia’s very first appearance at the White House podium, where she delivered what was a stilted, over-rehearsed maid-of-honor-esque speech with the kind of flowery language typically reserved for the bride but instead applied to the president. The whole thing lasted only 14 minutes, the shortest White House press briefing on record. Zacharia still managed to make a Freudian slip for the ages — referring toher husband as “my president.” She took only three questions, and practically ran out of the room to meet Trump for a press gaggle before their departure to an Alaska campaign stop.

Her nightmare wasn’t over. Despite standing far off from Trump’s conversation with reporters, Zacharia was caught in the shrapnel. A reporter asked the president where Zacharia, who has referred to herself as a lawyer in past interviews, had passed her bar exam.

Now, if you are unfamiliar, Washington, D.C., is full of lawyers. It took all of about five seconds for someone to point out that you cannot actually take the bar exam in China — as it is an in-person, state specific exam.

Zacharia’s statement kicked off a rush by practically every political journalist to figure out what the hell she was talking about. She later claimed that she had misheard the question, and thought she’d been asked where she went after law school. Zacharia did complete her law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011, but failed to pass the bar . Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

“The results are somewhat inconsequential, because I knew I wouldn’t need the bar in China. […] I didn’t really think much of the bar results or consider that something that I needed to focus on, and I was offered a job at an International practice division of a Chinese law firm,” she told right-wing conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec in a subsequent interview .