New White House press secretary has a history of conspiracy posts on social media

President Donald Trump’s new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, repeatedly made baseless accusations of pedophilia against prominent Democrats and shared conspiracy-related content, including claims that echoed the debunked “Pizzagate” theory and that Hollywood elites were pedophile cannibals, according to a CNN KFile review of her social media posts.

The messages, many of which date from 2022, reveal a history of inflammatory rhetoric and conspiratorial content from a woman now poised to become one of the administration’s most visible spokespeople.

Zacharia also has a since-deleted history of social media activity that shows she advocates harsh policies and criticizes the administration she is now poised to represent.

She pushed for more aggressive action on immigration, suggesting in a series of now-deleted posts from June 2025 that the administration should suspend habeas corpus for migrants because the circumstances warranted invoking the Constitution’s exception for cases of rebellion or invasion. Basic legal protection allows people to challenge their detention in court.

Zacharia also publicly criticized the direction of Trump’s second administration, warning Republicans of a possible midterm “bloodbath” in a now-deleted tweet.

In another deleted tweet, she shared a message accusing the Justice Department of covering up for those involved in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. She also promoted a rebroadcast on Truth Social claiming that comedian Joan Rivers died mysteriously after saying that former President Barack Obama was gay and that former first lady Michelle Obama had a penis.

In response to questions about her previous social media activities, Zacharia said in a statement to CNN: “I am grateful to serve President Trump as press secretary, and I will diligently and effectively amplify his successful agenda.” »

In another statement, Steven Cheung, White House communications director, told CNN: “Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team. She is uniquely qualified and smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his administration have done, and she will do an incredible job as press secretary.”

Neither the White House nor Zacharia addressed the content of the messages.

Some of Zacharia’s since-deleted posts on X were first reported by The Bulwark. Her posts on Truth Social, the social media platform founded by Trump where she worked as a communications advisor, remain publicly available on her account.

In articles on Truth Social in 2022, Zacharia repeatedly accused prominent political figures and Hollywood elites of pedophilia, sometimes invoking conspiracy theories that powerful people sexually abused children.

“Pedo Podesta. #pedoPodesta,” Zacharia wrote in a September 2022 post about John Podesta, a longtime Democratic political operative and former White House chief of staff who had been a central target of the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

This false theory emerged during the 2016 presidential election after Russian-linked hackers released emails belonging to Podesta, then Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. Conspiracy theorists falsely claimed that the emails contained coded references to child sex trafficking and that Clinton and other prominent Democrats ran a child sex abuse ring from the basement of Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC.

The restaurant didn’t even have a basement, and these baseless claims had real-world consequences when in December 2016, a North Carolina man armed with a rifle entered the restaurant and fired shots while trying to investigate the alleged trafficking ring.

Days after his first post about Podesta, Zacharia tagged Fox News host Sean Hannity and Trump in another post, asking why Fox News didn’t do a “report” on “what a pedophile Podesta is.”

In another post, Zacharia wrote, “Hollywood’s radical left elitists are sick pedo-cannibals. Change your mind,” in response to a September 2022 Variety article about actor Timothée Chalamet receiving a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival for his role in “Bones and All,” a film about two young cannibals in love.

Just weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Zacharia also posted a message apparently in support of Vladimir Putin, reposting a message that the Russian president was fighting a secret network of powerful elites.

“Putin is at war with the CABAL – and Ukraine is in bed with them,” read the post from an account named Richard Tomas, which included an image showing prominent political figures including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and billionaire George Soros.

Zacharia also reposted an unsubstantiated claim by Ali Alexander, a far-right activist who helped organize the “Stop the Steal” movement that promoted false claims of widespread voter fraud following Trump’s 2020 defeat.

“The Democrats want to hide and rape your children. This is their satanic agenda,” Alexander wrote in an April 2022 post shared by Zacharia.

Zacharia also reposted a September 2022 article from a Truth Social account called “Oinker” that compared then-President Joe Biden and anti-fascist protesters to Nazis, using the hashtags “#Antifa,” “#PedoHitler,” and “#WrongSideOfHistory.”

Zacharia also reposted the baseless conspiracy theory about former first lady Michelle Obama and the death of Joan Rivers. “Remember that time Joan Rivers said Obama was gay and Michelle had a dick and then suddenly died?” read the July 2022 post shared by Zacharia.

In another since-deleted tweet, Zacharia expressed frustration with the direction the second Trump administration was taking, warning that the Republican Party could suffer devastating losses in the 2026 midterm elections if it did not change course.

In a December 2025 post, Zacharia responded to far-right commentator Mike Cernovich, who had criticized administration figures for focusing on media appearances, podcasts and cryptocurrency programs rather than delivering on their promises.

“We had our chance to save our country,” Cernovich wrote, lamenting that prominent figures instead seek “vanity fair interviews, podcasts and coins.” “The 2026 midterm elections will be a bloodbath if we don’t change course now“, replied Zachariah.

Zacharia also amplified an accusation that the Trump administration’s Justice Department covered up those involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s child sexual abuse.

July 8, 2025, Zachariah retweeted a message from right-wing commentator Rogan O’Handley, known online as DC Draino, who questioned whether the Justice Department could be trusted.

“I wish I could be excited about this,” the message read, referring to Trump’s plans to investigate former FBI Director James Comey and other officials involved in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “But if the DOJ wants to cover up for Epstein’s pedophiles, how can we trust them to go after these guys?”

The new release came just a day after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo concluding that investigators found no evidence of an Epstein “client list,” nor any credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent figures.

The memo had drawn backlash from prominent Trump supporters, many of whom accused then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials of withholding information about Epstein after years of promises to release additional documents.

In June 2025, Zacharia also called for suspending the constitutional right to challenge his detention in court.

“Suspend habeas corpusshe wrote in an article, first reported by The Bulwark. two answers to the deputy chief of staff of the White House, Stephen Miller, she exhorted suspending it “on grounds of invasion,” citing the Constitution’s clause authorizing suspension “in case of rebellion or invasion.”

Miller had said weeks earlier that the administration was “actively exploring” that option.