Trump’s new press secretary reportedly called for suspending habeas corpus and claimed abortion pills were used in Nazi Germany in now-deleted posts

The White House named Katie Zacharia as its new press secretary on Friday. She replaces Karoline Leavitt, who left the post in late August. Zacharia previously served as a spokeswoman for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has been a frequent guest on Fox News and Newsmax. Her most recent role was as a communications adviser to Trump Media and Technology Group.

According to reporting by The Bulwark, Zacharia has a history of online comments that she later removed. One set of deleted tweets showed her calling for the suspension of habeas corpus. She made the call after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted that sanctuary cities amount to a criminal conspiracy.

In June 2025, Zacharia replied to a message from California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a tweet she later deleted. She wrote, “The federal government under @realDonaldTrump should take over all of California because clearly you can’t be trusted to do a single thing.” The comment questioned Newsom’s leadership of the state.

Deleted messages also covered vaccine claims, school shootings, and support for a third Trump term

Zacharia has expressed strong doubts about COVID vaccines in her posts. In August she shared an article that stated “8 in 10 women had a miscarriage after getting the COVID vaccine.” The Bulwark noted that the figure does not match published scientific findings. From a Twitter account she has since deleted, she wrote in 2022 that Bill Gates is “a eugenicist” who “was pushing for everyone to get a toxic jab.”

She has also weighed in on school violence. In September 2025 she said “leftist transgender assailants” were behind “at least a dozen” school shootings. More recently she described Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who was born and raised in the United States, as “an indictment of our immigration system under Democrats.” She criticized Chief Justice John Roberts as well, calling him “not even that conservative” and saying his birthright citizenship opinion “should have gotten him a seat back at those lib-tables.”

During a podcast interview last year, Zacharia stated that the abortion pill mifepristone is the same chemical used in Nazi Germany’s extermination camps. The Bulwark reported that the claim is incorrect. In other comments she has shown loyalty to President Trump. 

After he objected to a photo in Time magazine, she said the outlet should be “forced” to run a more heroic image of him. Last month she wrote on X, “President Trump does not need a spokesperson. He is his own best Press Secretary.”

Zacharia has said the 2020 election was stolen and has urged Trump to seek a third term in 2028. Deleted posts have surfaced as a recurring issue for Trump allies, such as when deleted tweets showed Natalie Harps‘ zealous January 6 calls to fight for Trump.

The Constitution bars a president from being elected to another term after two. In a December tweet she later deleted, she told Mike Cernovich that the midterms would be a “bloodbath if [Republicans] don’t shift course now.” The White House did not reply to The Bulwark’s request for comment before the story ran.