With just over two weeks remaining before the midterm elections, things inside the White House are turbulent.
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Even though President Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot, he is top of mind for many as they head to the polls. Republicans across the country are already working to persuade voters not to blame them for ongoing inflation, unproductive tariffs and a deeply unpopular war with Iran – which makes the timing of the tumult coming from the White House less than ideal.
Here are some of the issues that have made headlines in recent days.
Katie Zacharia Exits
Reports emerged Friday that President Donald Trump fired newly christened press secretary Katie Zacharia. The president did not confirm the firing but said earlier in the day that Zacharia should “reconsider” the role.
The news comes just a day after Zacharia admitted in an interview that she had not passed the bar exam, despite Trump previously describing her as “an attorney” in a social media post.
Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law in 2011 with a law degree. She told a conservative commentator that she sat for the bar exam only once.
Zacharia denied ever describing herself as an attorney and attributed the mixup to an abundance of misinformation. The press secretary spoke in several interviews about being advised to use “lawyer” and refrain from terms like “attorney” or “esquire.”
But many legal experts say Zacharia lacks the credentials to identify as either. CNN also found that Zacharia shared at least 15 social media posts identifying her as an attorney over the past two years.
The departure after less than one week on the job is just the latest issue to be roiling the White House.
Susie Wiles Struggles
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is also in the hot seat following reports that Trump is considering replacing her after the midterms.
Politico first reported Wednesday that Trump was consulting allies about potential replacements for Wiles, citing anonymous sources. Trump vehemently denied the claims in a statement to Politico.
“TOTAL FAKE NEWS Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism – it’s why I kicked them out of the White House!” Trump said. “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff – there is a reason for that. She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence.”
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Wiles’ departure would be far from unprecedented – most modern presidents have employed several chiefs of staff in a single term, with tenure averaging a little over two years. In his first term, Trump employed four.
Politico reported the following names as candidates for Wiles’ seat:
Wiles has also drawn scrutiny after advisers James Blair and Chris LaCivita traveled to Republika Srpska in Bosnia to consult the pro-Russian government without notifying the White House. The president testily responded to the trip in a social media post.
“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants. They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants,” Trump wrote. “I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!”
Wiles’ daughter, Katie Wiles, previously traveled to the region to discuss a potential partnership with Republika Srpska on a gas pipeline project.
Alina Habba Fumes
The internal tension extended to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as Alina Habba, a former lawyer for Trump, told the president that Ric Grenell, his appointee to lead the performing arts center temporarily near the start of his second term, failed to deposit her husband’s nearly $6 million donation for the center a year ago.
The allegations remain under review as Trump directed White House counsel to investigate. Habba’s husband, Turhan Mildon, was once close with Grenell, and the two previously shared business interests in Venezuela, Axios reported.
One source described their deteriorating relationship to Axios as the “ultimate MAGA blood feud.” Grenell reportedly persuaded Mildon to donate $5.6 million to the Kennedy Center as part of a $17 million wire transfer to defense company TXAT, where Grenell worked as a consultant in 2024. The details of that transaction remain unclear.
Grenell called the allegations “absurd” in a social media response to the story.
“I’ve never asked for one cent to be sent somewhere else pretending it was for the Kennedy Center and I’ve never received any payment from him at all,” Grenell wrote.
Kennedy Center officials said searching records for Mildon’s $6 million donation yielded no results. Instead, they found that Mildon owed a $270,000 pledged donation, which he paid Tuesday.
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