On Tuesday morning, Popular Information broke the news that newly appointed White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia did not have a law license — despite claiming for years that she was a practicing attorney. On Friday, after days of intense scrutiny about her legal credentials, Zacharia was “transitioned out” of the role.
CNN reported that Zacharia’s removal was a direct result of her inability to satisfactorily respond to Popular Information’s reporting, which became a problem for her even on typically friendly platforms like Fox News:
After a string of surprisingly combative interviews on Fox News – specifically her appearance with Trump’s friend Sean Hannity on Thursday night, when the host grilled her over her legal credentials – the president decided it was untenable for her to remain in the role.
Zacharia’s abrupt removal was a damaging development for Republicans so close to the midterm elections. “18 days until Election Day, and instead of driving this unifying message, Republicans are dealing with the fallout of Katie Zacharia’s firing after just five days on the job,” CNN’s Laura Coates said.
That’s Popular Information’s mission: we investigate, uncover new facts, and hold the powerful accountable.
Right now, we are doing a paid membership drive to fund even more ambitious journalism in the run-up to the midterm elections and beyond. We set a goal of 225 new paid subscribers — and we need 31 more to hit it.
As a special incentive we are offering a 20% discount that expires today. That means you can support independent journalism that makes an impact for just $40 per year or $4.80 per month.
Also this week in Popular Information
Zacharia repeatedly promoted the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory on social media, accusing elites from the Democratic Party and Hollywood of sexually trafficking children and eating people, a Popular Information review of Zacharia’s social media found.
Shortly after Zacharia’s first press conference, a reporter asked Trump where she had passed the bar exam. Zacharia, standing nearby, suggested she took the test in China, where she worked for a law firm from 2011 to 2013. But this makes no sense. China does not allow U.S. citizens to take its bar exam and no U.S. state offers a bar exam in China.
For months, Trump has celebrated data centers, calling them “absolutely beautiful” and a “Golden Goose.” Yet his super PAC (which he has said he controls) is paying for ads attacking Democratic congressional candidates for supporting data centers. A Popular Information review of two such ads found their claims to be misleading.
The best of the rest
Shortly before Trump retracted threats to strike power plants in Iran in March, “[b]illions of dollars’ worth of contracts predicting oil would fall and the S&P 500 would rise were placed.” After analysts at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) submitted a referral flagging the trades, a senior advisor to Trump’s CFTC chairman told a supervisor “to retract the referral.” (Bloomberg)
A Washington Post analysis revealed that around “two dozen former DOGE staffers have parlayed their government experience into relevant private-sector jobs or investments.” Start-ups linked to former DOGE workers “have raised at least half a billion dollars in funding.” (Washington Post)
A newly uncovered video shows Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who is currently running for Senate, partying in Dubai in late 2024 with two American fugitives and a woman who is not his wife. The fugitives, Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, had been indicted in the U.S. on health care fraud charges months before but had not returned to the country. Ahmed had donated nearly $200,000 to Paxton. (Wall Street Journal)
In 2024, Meta launched an invite-only Facebook Content Monetization program to pay certain creators for their posts. Since then, Meta has invited accounts that promote white supremacy, neo-Nazi ideology, and election fraud conspiracy theories. A report this week identified 29 accounts in the program that have a history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. (The 19th)
Numerical information
21: The number of U.S. troops who have died during the Iran war, according to an update from the Pentagon.
Around $2,000: The cost of the Iran war for the average American household, according to a new estimate by Moody’s Analytics.
445: The number of days during his second term that Trump has cast doubt on U.S. elections. That’s more than 70% of the days in the term so far.
Quote of the week
“We’re still running transgender ads. It’s just not resonating. $100 million in ads, $125 million in ads, and nothing’s moved the needle here in Texas in a month in the Senate race. Let’s be honest. The 8 to 10 percent of voters in the middle who are going to decide this election, when they hear stuff about boys in girls’ sports, they don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
— Former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) in an interview with Texas Monthly
You almost have to feel sorry for Katie. Hired because she both looked good on TV and looked like Ivanka, her life of lies is now exposed. She may be, at least for a while, too toxic even for right wing media. And will certainly now go down in history as the shortest time unit in Trumpworld replacing the Scaramucci.
More than ever Popular Information is needed. What incredible work.