Clownish late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel drew a crushing White House response Thursday after he used successive monologues to personally insult President Donald Trump’s freshly installed press secretary Katie Zacharia.
As the NY Post reports, during Tuesday’s episode of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” immediately after Zacharia’s first White House press briefing, the serial college dropout called her “Malibu Katie” and sneered at her intelligence.
“I want to introduce you to the new kid in Trump land. It was the first day of kindergarten for the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel speculated Zacharia was appointed to keep President Donald Trump “awake and interested,” saying “every six months they bring in a new fawning blonde dolt to add to the rotation.”
“Things did not get off to a great start for Malibu Katie today,” he continued, before digging deep into personal vulgarity to attack his target.
“Her first briefing was brief. It was only 14 minutes long. But even in that short time, she accomplished exactly what she was brought in to do, which is slobber a whole tube of lip gloss all over the president’s behind.”
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The White House responded to Kimmel’s monologues in statements to Fox News Digital, as the outlet reported.
“Jimmy Kimmel is a no-talent loser who has beclowned himself with tanking ratings and by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
“He is so devoid of actual talent that nobody with any common sense would ever watch him unless it was to laugh at his miserable failures.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung joined the fray, praising Zacharia’s qualifications in his own statement to Fox News Digital in response to Kimmel’s attacks.
“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team. She is uniquely qualified and whip-smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as press secretary,” Cheung told Fox News Digital.
Kimmel, who has no public record of ever having attained a college degree of his own, has been unsparing in mocking his target.
On Monday, before her first briefing, the host displayed a gym selfie of Zacharia wearing workout gear while joking about her intelligence.
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia joins U.S. President Donald Trump as he departs on the South Lawn of the White House on October 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“This is the new press secretary, former Newsmax commentator Katie Zacharia, seen here, thinking,” Kimmel said. He added that her qualifications for the role were having “blonde hair” and being able to “do a thumbs up.”
Zacharia was chosen last week to replace departed Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
In naming the 42-year-old who graduated from law school at Pepperdine University in 2011, Trump described Zacharia as “a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning.”
She briefly worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year and has been a commentator for Fox News and Newsmax.
Zacharia stated that being named to the role is “the honor of a lifetime.”