Old Truth Social posts from Katie Zacharia, in which she promoted the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory, have resurfaced days after Trump named her White House press secretary.
Katie Zacharia’s old social media posts are getting attention after Trump named her White House press secretary. Trump announced the appointment in a Truth Social post on Friday, October 9.
Trump called Zacharia a native of California and currently Senior Communications Advisor to Truth Social, where she “has been outstanding.” He said she previously served as spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. She graduated from Pepperdine University and its law school, and is an attorney and “a frequent Commentator on outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax.”
After the announcement, she thanked Trump on X for “the honor of a lifetime” and called him “a blessing to this country.”
Zacharia takes over from Karoline Leavitt, who left in August. “It is my Great Honor to have just appointed, as Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia,” Trump wrote, calling her “a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning.”
Since then, people have dug up posts she made back in 2022. According to Popular Information, which published its report on October 11, Zacharia repeatedly promoted the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory and accused Democratic and Hollywood elites of child trafficking and cannibalism. A CNN KFile review of her posts found she repeatedly made baseless accusations of pedophilia against prominent Democrats. Her Truth Social posts are still publicly available on her account, CNN reported.
A recap on Pizzagate
Pizzagate was a conspiracy theory that came out of the 2016 presidential campaign and has since been debunked. It claimed a child sex trafficking ring was being run from a Washington, D.C., pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong, and that Democrat politicians, including Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta, were involved.
On September 4, 2022, the day it was announced Podesta was joining the Biden White House, Zacharia posted: “Pedo Podesta. #pedoPodesta.” On the same day, she wrote that left-wing Hollywood elites were “sick pedo cannibals” and added: “Change my mind.”
She also pushed Fox News to cover the theory. In one post, she wrote: “[W]hy doesn’t Fox News do a ‘feature’ on what a pedophile Podesta is.” On October 17, 2022, she wrote: “[W]here’s the feature on John Podesta?”
She posted about QAnon too, the conspiracy theory that claims Trump is secretly fighting a child-abuse group made up of Democrats and other elites. Popular Information counted about 2,700 posts and reposts from her Truth Social account since March 2022.
Trump’s own history with Epstein
Zacharia’s posts and her new position are interesting considering Trump’s own well documented friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that he had known Epstein for 15 years and called him a “terrific guy.”
Footage from a 1992 party at Mar-a-Lago shows the two laughing together, flight logs show Trump flew on Epstein’s jet several times in the 1990s, and a photo from February 2000 shows Trump and Melania at Mar-a-Lago with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. When the Justice Department released hundreds of thousands of Epstein documents beginning in December 2025, later releases included mentions of Trump flying on Epstein’s plane.
Trump has said the two had a falling out and that he threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago. In 2019, he said they hadn’t spoken in about 15 years. In 2025, he said the friendship ended because Epstein “stole” young women who worked at the club’s spa. Trump has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes and denied any wrongdoing.
The White House has stayed silent on the resurfaced posts
Neither the White House nor Zacharia has addressed the content of the posts, according to CNN. The White House Press Office pointed Popular Information to Trump’s announcement.
Communications Director Steven Cheung told CNN: “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.”
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