根据两位熟悉内部动态的人士透露，白宫幕僚长苏西·怀尔斯帮助安排了凯蒂·扎卡里亚周四晚上在福克斯新闻频道的露面。当时这位陷入困境的新任新闻秘书在回答关于她上任初期动荡表现的问题时举步维艰。她在几小时后的周五被解职。
House chief of staff Susie Wiles helped set up Katie Zacharia’s appearance on Fox News Thursday night, when the embattled new press secretary struggled to answer questions about her rocky first days on the job, according to two people familiar with the internal dynamics. She was ousted hours later on Friday.
该节目由肖恩·汉尼蒂主持，在黄金时段播出，演变成了对扎卡里亚首次新闻发布会及其法律资历的尖锐审视。
The interview with host Sean Hannity, which aired during prime time, turned into a pointed examination of Zacharia’s first press briefing and her legal credentials.
其中一位获准匿名以讨论内部动态的人士将此次露面描述为对扎卡里亚的“制裁性打击”，而扎卡里亚并非怀尔斯对该职位的首选人选。
One of the people, granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics, described the appearance as a “sanctioned hit” on Zacharia, who was not Wiles’ preferred choice for the role.
“[白宫发言人]丹妮尔·[阿尔瓦雷斯]和苏西把她送到了汉尼蒂面前，”另一位熟悉此事的人士表示，并指出怀尔斯和汉尼蒂关系友好，经常交谈。
“[White House spokesperson] Danielle [Alvarez] and Susie fed her to Hannity,” a second person familiar with the matter said, noting that Wiles and Hannity are friendly and speak often.
一位同样获准匿名以讨论人事问题的高级白宫官员表示：“苏西和肖恩确实会交谈，但苏西不需要把她送给肖恩或其他任何人。这不是她的作风。” “汉尼蒂也不是她下台的致命一击；她今天早上在《福克斯与朋友》上的表现才是，此外还有她关于自己是律师的奇怪回答，”这位高级白宫官员说。扎卡里亚拒绝置评。
A senior White House official, also granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues, said "Susie and Sean do talk, but Susie did not need to feed her to Sean or anybody else. It’s not her style." “And Hannity wasn’t the nail in her coffin; her hit [on Fox & Friends] this morning was, as well as her weird answer on being a lawyer,” the senior White House official said. Zacharia declined to comment.
白宫传播主管史蒂文· chung 在一份声明中称对怀尔斯参与的报道是“猜测”。“所有这些无端猜测只不过是猜测。而且这是毫无创意的虚构，” chung 说。“凯蒂承担了一项非常重要的工作，她将在过渡到新岗位期间继续支持总统。她是一位出色的队友和非凡的人才。” 福克斯新闻内部人士驳斥了任何关于“制裁性打击”的说法。
White House communications director Steven Cheung in a statement called the reporting on Wiles’ involvement “speculation.”“All of this breathless speculation is just that— speculation. And it’s fiction that’s not even creative,” Cheung said. “Katie took on a very important job, and she will continue to support the President as she transitions to a new role. She is an amazing teammate and tremendous talent.”A FOX News insider pushed back on any notion of a “sanctioned” hit.
“到本周结束时，很明显她是靠自己的表现自毁前程。如果你连自己资历的简单问题都答不上来，这就说明了很多问题，”福克斯新闻内部人士说。
“It was clear by the end of this week that she did herself in with her own performance. If you can’t answer simple questions about your credentials, that speaks volumes,” the Fox News insider said.
福克斯新闻媒体在一份声明中表示，肖恩·汉尼蒂决定他采访谁以及他问什么。
FOX News Media said in a statement that Sean Hannity decides who he interviews and what he asks.
“这一点已经持续了三十年，经历了几届政府，正是这种真实性使他近30年来一直排名第一，”声明说。
“That’s been true for three decades, through several administrations, and that authenticity is why he’s been number one for nearly 30 years,” the statement said.
扎卡里亚的解职发生在西翼内部更广泛动荡之际。特朗普对威尔斯的亲密盟友詹姆斯·布莱尔以及前高级助理克里斯·拉卡维塔发怒，原因是他们在巴尔干地区为一个亲俄政权的连任努力提供咨询。随着中期选举前景变得黯淡，特朗普一直在征求盟友对威尔斯的看法，并琢磨可能的替代人选来取代他的顶级助理。
Zacharia’s ouster comes amid broader turmoil inside the West Wing. Trump lashed out at Wiles confidante James Blair and former top aide Chris LaCavita over their work in the Balkans advising a Russia-friendly regime’s reelection effort. And as prospects for the midterms darken, Trump has solicited allies’ views of Wiles and mused about possible replacements for his top aide.
扎卡里亚仅五天的任期凸显了西翼的动荡。总统的支持率接近历史低点，他的党面临失去众议院和参议院的真实危险。选民们愤怒不已，曾经忠诚的共和党人正在与总统保持距离。指责游戏正在全面展开，员工们相互指责，方式令人想起特朗普第一任期所特有的互相戳刺。
Zacharia’s five-day stint underscores the West Wing upheaval. The president’s popularity is near record lows and his party is in real danger of losing the House and Senate. Voters are furious and once-loyal Republicans are distancing themselves from the president. The blame-game is in full swing, and staffers are turning on one another in ways reminiscent of the backstabbing that came to characterize Trump’s first term.
汉尼蒂告诉扎卡里亚，她从讲台上的简报“广受批评”，他指出简报持续了14分钟，包含三个问题。他直接问她是否在报告称她歪曲了法律背景之后未能通过律师资格考试。扎卡里亚说她确实未通过考试。
Hannity told Zacharia that her briefing from the podium was “widely panned,” noting it lasted 14 minutes and included three questions. He asked her directly whether she had failed the bar exam following reports that she mischaracterized her legal background. Zacharia said she had failed the exam.
汉尼蒂还追问她在社交媒体上将自己标识为律师的帖子。扎卡里亚说这些是转发，她并未意图支持这一头衔，并且她曾咨询法律专业人士，他们告诉她可以称自己为“律师”。“不仅福克斯新闻是我们的主阵地，而且凯蒂甚至无法回答一个关于她自己的基本问题——这个问题已经在新闻中酝酿了三天，”一个MAGA世界的操作人士说。此次采访发生在扎卡里亚在白宫首次新闻发布会上表现不佳之后。
Hannity also pressed her on social media posts identifying her as an attorney. Zacharia said they were retweets, that she had not meant to endorse the title and that she had consulted legal professionals who told her she could call herself a “lawyer.”“Not only is Fox News home turf for us, but Katie couldn’t manage to answer a basic question about herself that had been brewing in the news for three days,” a MAGA world operative said. The interview followed Zacharia’s bumpy first White House press conference.
但正是一名记者在离开白宫时喊出的一个问题，引发了为期三天的新闻周期，聚焦于她的资质：“你说她是律师。她在哪里通过了律师资格考试？”扎卡里亚回答：“当我搬到中国时。”后来她才承认，她在2011年未能通过加州律师资格考试，并且没有重新参加考试。
But it was a question that a reporter shouted upon departure from the White House that set off a three-day news cycle about her qualifications: “You said she’s an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam?”Zacharia answered “when I moved to China,” and only later acknowledged that she had failed the California bar exam in 2011 and had not retaken it.
周五，特朗普表示，他曾告诉扎卡里亚要重新考虑自己是否想继续担任新闻秘书。“她昨晚上了肖恩·汉尼蒂的节目。而肖恩有点苛刻。我看她今天早上上了《福克斯与朋友》。他们也有点苛刻，”特朗普对记者说。
On Friday, Trump said he had told Zacharia to reconsider whether she wanted to remain press secretary. “She was on Sean Hannity last night. And Sean was a little bit tough. I saw she was on Fox and Friends this morning. They were a little tough,” Trump told reporters.
他说他曾告诉她：“如果你不想做，你就不必这么做。”这是扎卡里亚在特朗普政府中的第二次短暂任职。今年早些时候，她在国土安全部工作的时间不到两个月。
He said he had told her, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”This was Zacharia’s second short stint in the Trump administration. Earlier this year, she spent less than two months working at the Department of Homeland Security.