Brazil

Brasília, October 16, 2026. The Brazilian press reports on Katie Zacharia's departure, the new White House press secretary, "after less than a week" in office, according to G1 and Estadão. She succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who had left the position to, according to G1, focus on her family, and who, according to Estadão, will join Fox News.

The Brazilian account is organized around a disastrous start. G1 summarizes these days as "marked by gaffes, a slip of the tongue, and a revelation about her own CV". It describes a press conference where she showed nervousness and was unable to answer journalists' questions; the agency photo dates back to Tuesday, October 13. G1 presents her as a former Fox News commentator, former spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security from February to April 2026, close to media linked to Trump and the conservative organization Fix California, founded by Richard Grenell.

The central issue is the question of her degrees. According to G1, American newspapers revealed that the woman Trump presented as a lawyer had never obtained her license; she admitted it in an interview. Estadão specifies that she acknowledged on Thursday, October 15, that she had not passed the bar exam, contrary to what she had claimed, and that her titles were called into question after a vague response about the location where she would have taken it. Questioned by Sean Hannity on Fox News, she was put in a difficult position. The newspaper also recalls that she claimed to be a jurist for a Californian organization and a lawyer in a firm in Beijing; G1 notes that she lived in China between 2011 and 2013.

Regarding the circumstances of her departure, Estadão headlines with a spokesperson "fired" on Friday, October 16, while reporting Trump's words: he advised her to "reconsider", asking her: "Katie, do you need this?" The newspaper recalls that Trump had praised her on Truth Social on Friday, October 9, as a "loyal and brilliant" supporter since her early days in politics.

Both media outlets treat the episode as a matter of personal credibility and verification of titles, rather than as a foreign policy issue. Comments on China and Beijing's reaction, as well as the issue of intelligence shared with Ukraine, remain in the background: Estadão only mentions them through "read also" links on Ukraine and Venezuela.