The co-hosts of ABC's "The View" were unimpressed by newly appointed White House press secretary Katie Zacharia's first press conference, criticizing its brevity as well as her delivery, her handling of the media, and her qualifications for the role. The press secretary serves as the administration's chief spokesperson and its primary conduit for on-the-record questions from the press corps, and a first briefing is typically scrutinized as an early measure of how the White House plans to manage day-to-day press access. Co-host Ana Navarro delivered the panel's most blistering assessment.

"I've literally had bouts of hiccups that have lasted longer than this press conference," Navarro said. "It was such a mess because it was 14 minutes long. She couldn't read. There are second graders that read at a level than she does. She couldn't answer questions, even questions that were handpicked and curated by right-wing media outlets, asking her softball questions, and she couldn't even answer those."

Navarro went on to offer a sardonic checklist of what she argued the job requires under Trump. "But what do you need to be a press secretary? You need to be under Trump, a psychopath. Check. You need to be blonde. Being blonde helps. Check. You need to be able to lie, but you need to be able to lie with confidence, not looking nervous. And that's where I think she's lacking."

Fellow co-host Sunny Hostin pointed out that Zacharia has reportedly passed the bar in China, raising questions about how that experience relates to her new position. "She's going to be press secretary; she should have gone to clown school," Navarro added. "We've reached the point in American politics where reality is funnier than Saturday Night Live."

Following Trump's general instructions, Zacharia opened her briefing with eight minutes of prepared remarks praising the president, saying she had wanted to work for him for "a really long time," and presenting attendees with updated figures on wage gains, drug prices, jobs, and energy production. Briefings have traditionally been the venue where reporters can press an administration on such figures on the record, which is why the balance between prepared remarks and question time often draws close attention from the press corps.

With roughly six minutes remaining, Zacharia took questions from a handful of outlets and stumbled through the question-and-answer session before announcing that Trump had demanded the resignation of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former U.S. ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle was asked to step down amid discussions of her alleged misconduct, and the announcement stood out as one of the few substantive pieces of news delivered during the short session.

"I am going to end it because President Trump is heading out to Marine One for our historic trip to Alaska," Zacharia said. Trump's departure, however, was not immediate, and reporters were left startled and confused, describing the event as one of the shortest press conferences of the past decade. How regularly Zacharia fields questions in future briefings, and whether more detail emerges about the circumstances surrounding Guilfoyle's resignation, remain open questions as her tenure begins.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel also mocked Zacharia's inaugural briefing, calling it a "disaster" and comparing her aesthetic to a Barbie doll. Echoing Navarro's critique, Kimmel quipped of the press secretary, "Her reading is good for an 11-year-old."

This article is based on reporting published by Alternet.