Trump’s First Press Secretary Warns Him After ‘Pretty’ Hire Fiasco

Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Sean Spicer offered his former boss some words of wisdom as he sought the next White House press secretary.

During a Tuesday appearance on News24, Spicer, the president’s first press secretary, was asked what to make of Katie Zacharias’s five-day stint as press secretary.

“What does this whole fiasco say about White House vetting and whether Donald Trump chooses people who look pretty and just agree with him instead of people who are competent at the job?” anchor Andrew Bolt asked him.

Spicer, Trump’s only male press secretary, acknowledged that looks and loyalty account for “twenty percent” of the job.

“I caution the White House and the president in particular for just focusing on that part of the duties,” he went on, before listing other core components of being the most powerful press secretary in the country.

“Being able to sit in these meetings and handle the rollouts and the coordination, the logistical nature of dealing with the media—all of those things are critical.” “You’re talking about being the point person for the government of the United States through the agencies and the departments coordinating with outside stakeholders in Congress, and I don’t think some people fully appreciate that aspect of the job,” Spicer concluded.

“So I would just caution them as they look for a new person that they do that.” Zacharia lasted just five days as Karoline Leavitt’s replacement.

Her brief tenure was mired in controversy, from a truncated first press briefing in which she read from a piece of paper and confused Trump with her husband, to questions about her presenting herself as an attorney .

A Daily Beast review found that Zacharia misled the public about her legal qualifications and experience practicing law in numerous interviews.

Despite failing the California bar exam in 2011 after attending Pepperdine University, Zacharia, 41, repeatedly presented herself as someone who had practiced corporate law in China.

Spicer stressed that press secretary candidates must also “recognize their own strengths and weaknesses.” “If you’re telling me that you don’t have a real fundamental grasp of how government operates, you’ve never worked at the press corps—then this might not be the best fit for you,” he concluded.

That person will also need to prepare for a heavy workload.

Leavitt’s decision to step down came as she was reportedly fielding calls from the president, 80, during her maternity leave last month.

Her daughter, Vivian, was born on May 1, and the secretary returned to the podium roughly 11 weeks later, on July 16.