Katie Zacharia's five days, from a podium slip to a firing

Katie Simpson's Washington report for The National links a 14-minute briefing, Fox News questions about the bar exam and Trump's public advice to reconsider.

Channel: CBC News: The National Story of October 18, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 638,601 views a day, 47 times a normal first day on this channel (13,643).

Trump cans Zacharia as press secretary just 5 days into the job

Katie Simpson opens her report for CBC News: The National with a record no press secretary wants: Katie Zacharia, she says, had the shortest tenure in modern history in the job. Advisers say Donald Trump fired her after five days.

The report moves quickly. Trump appears outdoors, saying he had advised Zacharia to step back: "Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider." Then comes her only briefing, 14 minutes long, including the moment she says "my president" and corrects herself to "my husband." Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary, offers a blunt reading: "I feel like she lost all confidence."

The sharpest exchanges come from friendly territory. In Fox News clips, Sean Hannity presses Zacharia on whether she passed the bar exam, after scrutiny over whether she had presented herself as a lawyer. On Fox & Friends, Lawrence Jones asks whether she wishes she had told Trump. "Yeah, well Lawrence, those questions weren't asked," she replies.

The two-minute Short passed 600,000 views in its first day, far above the usual start for The National's Shorts. Its report on the Bend, Oregon, school shooting, another story from the same night's broadcast, also drew an unusually large audience.

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The numbers

The figures below show the Short's first day set against The National's usual start for its Shorts.

the video's first day

usual first day here

13,643

this video

638,601

subscribers

2,200,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

1,578,728,162

views per day

990,580

typical day: 923,634

the video

views

728,386

likes

704

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

7NEWS Australia

2,260,000

BBC World Service

2,240,000

CBC News: The National

2,200,000

GBNews

2,190,000

Localish

2,180,000

AccuWeather

2,170,000

As of October 18, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.