Press secretary Katie Zacharia held her first White House press briefing on Tuesday morning, drawing confusion and concern over her qualifications.

Zacharia walked up to the podium about 10 minutes after the start time of 9:30 a.m. and mostly read from her script during her eight-minute introduction, occasionally looking up at the reporters to smile.

Susan Constantine, a body language expert, told HuffPost that Zacharia seemed to lack “the confidence, composure and commanding presence expected of a presidential spokesperson.”

Zacharia answered only three questions — from Breitbart, Fox News and Daily Mail reporters — and left the podium after about 14 minutes. While White House press briefings and news conferences do not have a set duration, the length was unusually short, Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, a political science professor at the University of North Texas, told HuffPost. Typically, these briefings last 25 minutes to an hour.

The big news from Zacharia’s press briefing was that she confirmed the Trump administration asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign.

Online reactions flagged that when Zacharia was asked whether the U.S. has stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she said she would “have to get back to you on that.”

Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary under the Biden administration, dismissed the briefing on X as “basically an SNL skit.” Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as the Trump administration’s communications director from July 21 to July 31, 2017, quipped on X, “The clock is running.”

“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told HuffPost. “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.”

Zacharia was announced to be the new White House press secretary on Friday, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the role in August and is headed to Fox News. Zacharia had been the senior communications adviser to Trump’s social platform, Truth Social, after briefly serving as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security in February and March.

“I am grateful to serve President Trump as press secretary, and I will diligently and effectively amplify his successful agenda,” Zacharia said in a statement shared with HuffPost.

Zacharia appeared very nervous, body language experts told HuffPost.

“Her nervous smiling, frequent downward gaze and tentative vocal delivery projected discomfort rather than authority,” Constantine said. “The disconnect between her verbal messaging and nonverbal behavior created an impression of uncertainty and insufficient preparation.”

One of those disconnects is when she looked up from the script and smiled, Abbie Maroño, a behavioral scientist, told HuffPost. “Its timing and intensity often do not fit the emotional content of what she is saying, which makes it come across as forced,” Maroño said. “It reads as impression management: She is delivering her remarks while also visibly attending to how she presents herself to the room.”

It could be nerves and Zacharia’s awareness that she is not only in front of a camera but being livestreamed.

“She may have held the podium, but she did not command the room,” Constantine continued. “Her delivery fell short of projecting the executive presence the role demands.”

Eshbaugh-Soha told HuffPost it is understandable for Zacharia to have been nervous on her first day, especially since she is an “unusual” choice for the position.

“She is being evaluated by Donald Trump right away, and so we had that very praising tone and just sort of over-the-top Trumpian language to appeal to Trump,” he said. “But this is unusual, and I think the implication might be that she may not be as forceful as a press secretary that some presidents would want.”

Zacharia told the press that she hopes to “only build on, only amplify, and only multiply, to all extent possible, all of the wins” Trump is “making for Americans” and “for Americans to understand how much has changed in this brief period of time, and what [Trump has] been able to accomplish.”

Putting Zacharia in this position may be intentional, as the Trump administration may want a more “superficial relationship” between the press secretary and reporters, Eshbaugh-Soha said; adding that, for reporters, these press briefings would now be like going to a two-hour movie and then only being able to watch the previews.

“The president would much rather use other means, whether it’s social media or rallies, to communicate,” Eshbaugh-Soha suggested. Zacharia even said during the press briefing that Trump “is his own best spokesperson.”

“I’m just curious if this continues — is this first-stage jitters or is this the strategy?” Eshbaugh-Soha asked. “And I think that’ll tell us even more about what the president is thinking about, how he intends to use the press office the rest of his term.”

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