Former Trump attorney Ty Cobb, who served as special counsel in Trump's first-term White House from 2017 to 2018, delivered a scathing assessment of President Donald Trump's current White House operation, arguing that only women in the administration have suffered consequences for their mistakes — a pattern he said was underscored by the five-day dismissal of Trump's latest press secretary, Katie Zacharia. The press secretary is the administration's chief public-facing spokesperson, a level of visibility that makes a five-day tenure in the role particularly notable.

Speaking on CNN's "Out Front with Erin Burnett" (watch the interview), Cobb said Zacharia owed her short-lived appointment to flattery and loyalty rather than qualifications, adding that the president had mistaken her for a lawyer.

"[Katie Zacharia] met the key qualification, of course, having filled her [video] pieces on TV with adulation and praise for the president," Cobb said. "She met the obsessively loyal idolater standard, which is the essential standard for Trump hires. And of course, she's blond, sort of, like creepy Karoline [Leavitt] and Natalie Harp. But Trump also thought she was a lawyer and he was a little surprised when she wasn't."

Cobb also rejected Trump's claim that Zacharia had been treated unfairly by the media.

"She hasn't been treated unfairly by the media. She's been treated unfairly by the president," Cobb said. "The vetting process is there to protect not just the president, but also the candidate. You don't want somebody who is not qualified or you're hiring them to fail. And she failed miserably, in large part because of the absence of a vetting process."

Vetting for senior West Wing posts has long been a standard step across administrations, built around background reviews intended to flag problems before an appointment is announced — context that frames Cobb's charge that the step was missing in Zacharia's case.

In Cobb's view, the pattern extends across the administration's personnel record. Trump has also fired DHS head Kristi Noem, former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, Department of Labor head Lori Chavez-DeRemer and, more recently, Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle.

"[U.S. Rep.] Elise Stefanik was promised the U.N. position, and Trump canned her and ruined her political career forever and gave it to Waltz," Cobb continued. "So, that is contrasted with [Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth, who puts an Atlantic reporter on a classified telephone conference and [FBI Director] Kash Patel, who flies around the world drunk everywhere and misuses his airplane and personnel for the benefit of his girlfriend, and Lutnick, who lies about his Epstein ties. … There's no consequences for the men, only for the women. So, I think that's sad."

Because the West Wing's senior team handles policy coordination, communications, and the day-to-day management of the president's operation, questions about how hires are made — and who is held accountable when they go wrong — reach beyond any single appointment.

Turning to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Cobb said he hoped she was "reading the tea leaves" on what he described as Trump's treachery toward women, and preparing to "leap before she's pushed."

Addressing about those circling for Wiles' job, Cobb offered pointed takes on Stephen Miller and Bill Pulte.

"Stephen Miller actually benefits from having Wiles in the role because Miller is the de facto chief of staff. He dictates the policies of the White House and he gets a little bit of cover there. If he was out front and had the title, he might take more flak," Cobb said. "But in terms of [U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill] Pulte, I mean, Pulte does have the two-digit IQ that qualifies many of the people in this administration for a job, but we'd rather see somebody more competent."

Whether Wiles remains in her post, and who ultimately takes on the press secretary role after Zacharia's dismissal, are among the open questions following Cobb's remarks.