Culture 3 min read By Mason Emerson
Karoline Leavitt Discusses Katie Zacharia's Exit on Bill Maher's Real Time
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, where she was asked about the brief tenure of her successor, Katie Zacharia, who was removed after five days on the job.
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made her first late-night interview appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, where she was questioned about the abrupt departure of her successor, Katie Zacharia. Leavitt, who spent the better part of two years as a frequent target of late-night jokes, became the guest rather than the punchline, and the segment came on the same night Maher was expected to discuss his second White House dinner with President Donald Trump.
Leavitt told Maher that Trump is known for moving on from people, comparing Zacharia's exit to the reality competition series The Apprentice. She also described the press secretary role as a tough job and one of the hardest in Washington. Zacharia had done just one briefing, which lasted 14 minutes, before she was ousted after less than a week in the position, and she took only three questions during that briefing.
Zacharia's tenure ended on Friday, October 16, after two senior administration officials confirmed the decision. She had been named to the post on October 9 and started on October 12, and her first briefing followed the next day. Her tenure was marked by a heavily criticized briefing performance and growing questions over whether she had misrepresented herself as a lawyer, despite never having passed the bar. Asked in which state she passed the bar exam, she reportedly replied, « When I moved to China. » Trump told reporters he had urged her to reconsider the job, saying he would do so if he were in her position, and a White House official said she was being transitioned into a new role that would be announced later.
Maher has been a regular critic of Leavitt on his program. In November 2025 he mocked her defense of Trump's « Quiet, piggy » remark to a female reporter, and in February he singled her out over the White House response to Trump sharing, and later deleting, a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. Leavitt had announced in August that she would leave the press secretary position at the end of that month. The White House has not indicated who will replace Zacharia, and Zacharia's removal leaves a key communications post vacant less than three weeks before the midterm elections.
The appearance also came days after Maher's visit to the White House. He returned for dinner with Trump, Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock, and afterward Trump suggested to reporters that Maher's criticisms of him on his late-night program were mostly bluster. Real Time, which has aired on HBO since 2003, typically pairs one-on-one interviews with a panel discussion of current events in politics and media.
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