WASHINGTON — Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has aggressively sought interviews from the media, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity, ahead of an interview Thursday. Hannityaccording to a brief reviewed by Breitbart News.
The text messages debunk Politico’s claim that White House chief of staff Suzy Wells “arranged” and orchestrated the interview Thursday, just before President Donald Trump offered Zakaria the end of her five-day tenure as press secretary.
A White House official told Breitbart News that before publishing the story titled “Susie Wiles helps arrange Fox interview before press secretary leaves,” Politico received a text message from the White House indicating that Zakaria had initiated the booking.
On Tuesday afternoon, hours after Zakaria’s press conference, a Fox News producer said Zakaria had offered to be interviewed Hannity that night. However, the interview did not materialize as President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Alaska that evening.
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles looks on as President Donald Trump speaks to the press during a bilateral dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Blue Room, Monday, July 7, 2025. (Official White House photo by Daniel Torok)
“Katie said she could attend tonight’s rally,” the producers wrote.
“I don’t think the timing is right,” one official responded, quickly adding that the president will speak when Hannity’s show airs at 9 p.m. ET, or just after.
Another text message Wednesday morning showed Zakaria writing to a White House official, “I would like to do news coverage in the morning and evening hours.” She went on to say, “If you can book those mf” and “as much as possible.”
Zakaria eventually joined Hannity on Thursday night.
The POLITICO article made no mention of the text messages that undermined the narrative, relying instead on anonymous sources, one of whom claimed that Wiles and White House spokesperson Danielle Alvarez “fed” Zakaria to Hannity.
One reporter admitted that editors would not remove Wiles from the story because she was a “hook,” according to White House officials.
The article follows two separate articles in Politico magazine, the first of which claimed Trump was considering one of five people to replace Wiles. Trump called the narrative “bullshit” and provided a documented statement to the publication mentioned in the article:
“Totally fake news Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism—that’s why I kicked them out of the White House! “said the president. “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest-serving chief of staff — and for good reason. She has been with me from the beginning, is a trusted advisor, and has my complete confidence in President Donald J. Trump. “
The other article was a follow-up, claiming that the first article caused “panic” in the West Wing after it was printed and shown to Trump by Natalie Harp, executive and special assistant to the president.
As noted above, Trump commented on the story that allegedly caused “panic,” and according to a White House official, Politico reporters knew he had been briefed on the story before publication because the White House and the president worked with reporters on the investigation, but Politico still reported the first article that caused “panic.”
“These latest hit jobs expose Politico’s shameful direction under new leadership to prioritize sensational headlines and headline bait over facts and journalistic integrity,” a White House official told Breitbart News. “Politico was once a serious news outlet and is now serious
“Sensationalism has replaced substance, personal attacks have replaced reporting, and journalistic integrity has ceased to exist. Politico is sacrificing its credibility for cheap clicks, and that’s shameful,” the official added.