Author Stephen King has publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s newly appointed White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, citing her past social media activity. King accused Zacharia of promoting vaccine conspiracy theories, questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election, and encouraging Trump to seek a third term.
King took to X on the weekend to highlight what he described as a "sordid online history." He wrote that Zacharia "appears to have tried to expunge from the public record" some of her previous statements.
The announcement of Zacharia's appointment came on Friday. She is replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the administration in late August following the birth of her second child. Leavitt is expected to join Fox News as an on-air contributor next month.
Zacharia is a lawyer and currently serves as a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. She also acts as general counsel for Fix California, a conservative activist group founded by Richard Grenell. Her professional background includes serving as a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Zacharia joined Trump Media in June. Her social media history includes promoting the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and describing climate change as a "hoax." She has also claimed that green energy is part of "China’s plot to subdue the United States." In August, she asserted that refusing COVID-19 vaccination saved her son, a 5-year-old, though no scientific evidence supports this claim.
