Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after less than a week in the role, according to multiple news reports, following a first briefing that drew criticism and renewed questions about whether she had overstated her legal credentials.

A senior White House official confirmed to Fortune that Zacharia is leaving the post, fewer than seven days after accepting the job and less than five days after appearing behind the world's most famous podium. The job is among the most visible in any administration: the press secretary is the president's chief public spokesperson and the main point of contact between the White House and the press corps, traditionally fielding questions in regular on-camera briefings.

The New York Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported Friday that President Donald Trump had fired her. CNN reported the same, citing advisers. Fox News quoted a senior White House official saying she is "transitioning out." Trump told reporters he had urged her to "reconsider" job.

Trump named Zacharia, a conservative commentator and adviser to the company that runs Truth Social, on Oct. 9 to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the administration at the end of August. Zacharia's only briefing, on Tuesday, was short: she took three questions. She later told Fox News's Sean Hannity that she "probably should have stepped aside" rather than take questions without time to prepare.

Shorter Than a Scaramucci

Zacharia's tenure was shorter than the episode that had long set the standard for brief White House stints: Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days as communications director in 2017, a stretch so brief that his name became a unit of measure. And Scaramucci noticed.

"Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people's pain," he wrote on X Friday. In a second post addressed to her directly, he wrote: "Dear @katiezacharia—speaking as the world's leading expert on short White House tenures: turn off the news and go enjoy your family. In time you'll realize that the Universe did you a major favor."

According to TheGrio, Zacharia's five days mark the shortest tenure for a White House press secretary on record.

Social media users had spent the week joking about whether Zacharia would last "one Scaramucci," and the math grew more creative once news surfaced that she had not. "And if you're using the metric system, a full Zacharia converts to one ninth of a Liz Truss," one user wrote, a nod to the British prime minister who lasted less than two months in 2022. Another asked: "Do we now say that Zacharia lasted half a Scaramucci, or that Scaramucci lasted two Zacharias?"

Defending a Truncated Briefing

Zacharia spent Thursday defending her legal background and her abbreviated inaugural briefing as she navigated a rocky first week as the president's chief spokeswoman.

In interviews with conservative media, she told the outlet Human Events that she did not have time to prepare fully ahead of Tuesday's briefing and that keeping it short had always been the plan, because Trump would field questions from journalists later that morning.

"It was absolutely my goal to keep it short, considering he is his own best spokesperson, and he would love — and does love — gaggling with the media as he goes to Marine One," Zacharia said. "So I wanted to give ample deference and not barge into his time."

She said the initial briefing materials were handed to her on Monday evening and completed at 8 a.m. Tuesday, less than two hours before she appeared before the White House press corps. She had been awake since 3 a.m. preparing, she said.

"I never had a full briefing beforehand, and I went out and I effectuated the briefing," she said.

Speaking later to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, she repeated that she "probably should have stepped aside" rather than take questions without preparation.

"I could have just given a brief intro and said, 'I'm only here to introduce myself, and I want to engage with the press corps)'," she said.

The Lawyer Question

Zacharia also drew scrutiny for describing herself as a lawyer after failing the bar exam — a lapse she called "somewhat inconsequential" because she would not need to be licensed while living in China. In the United States, passing a bar exam is generally required to obtain a law license and practice as an attorney, the benchmark against which her use of the title was judged.

She said she had been preparing to take the California bar exam at a time when she had just gotten married and was readying a move to China to join her new husband, who had been working in private equity in Beijing.

"I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I'd been long distance from for at least a year," Zacharia said.

She said the results of the exam, which she did not pass, were "somewhat inconsequential" because she would not need to be a barred attorney while living in China.

Zacharia, who has been under scrutiny for calling herself a "lawyer," said she consulted several legal experts to ensure that the title was accurate when offering legal analysis.

"It's unfortunate that people dub this as some kind of conspiracy or want to put me in a camp," she said. "The truth is, I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney-at-law."

She added that she will not weigh in on legal matters in her White House capacity.

How She Landed the Job

Zacharia also detailed how she secured the press secretary role, stressing that she did not want to be seen as lobbying for the position, which became vacant when Karoline Leavitt announced she would depart the administration to spend more time with her family.

As a communications adviser for the company that runs Truth Social, Zacharia said she closely monitored the president's social media posts to determine what was top of mind for him, then went on air to discuss those topics.

"My philosophy is, I'm on TV enough where if he sees me and he likes me, then I will be recruited for the job," she said. "I do believe that lobbying for that job would have been successful, and I wanted to work for it. I wanted to audition for it."

On Oct. 7, as Zacharia was preparing to take one of her children to a pumpkin patch, she received a phone call from Trump about the press secretary position. She flew the next day from her home in California to Washington, met with the president about the job on Friday, and formally accepted the position later that day.

For the White House, the immediate open question is who takes over the podium next — and whether the next press secretary returns to a more conventional briefing format — in a role that has now turned over twice since the end of August.

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed reporting.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.