Trump’s newly named White House press secretary once called on the federal government to suspend habeas corpus, according to deleted social media posts that resurfaced right after her appointment.
Quick Take
- Katie Zacharia, President Trump’s new press secretary, had old posts calling to suspend habeas corpus and take over California.
- The posts came from an older @KatieZacharia account that reports say was deleted in 2022.
- Other resurfaced posts pushed vaccine conspiracy claims and warned of a GOP “bloodbath” in the midterms.
- Reports describe the posts through screenshots and Internet Archive captures, not official platform records.
- Neither Zacharia nor the White House has publicly addressed the specific posts in detail so far.
Deleted Posts Surface Days After Appointment
President Trump named Katie Zacharia as his new White House press secretary, and within days, old social media posts tied to her resurfaced online. The Bulwark reported it traced the material to an account using the same handle as her current one, @KatieZacharia, which appeared to have been taken down sometime in 2022. Raw Story and other outlets quickly picked up the findings.
The timing matters. A press secretary speaks for the president every day from the briefing room podium. Her past public statements, especially ones she apparently tried to erase, are fair game for scrutiny, no matter which party she serves.
Habeas Corpus and California Takeover Calls Raise Eyebrows
One deleted post, reported by The Bulwark, showed Zacharia replying to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller by calling for the federal government to “suspend habeas corpus”. Habeas corpus is a core constitutional protection that stops the government from holding people without cause. TheWrap’s headline flagged the post as an “anti-constitutional” statement, a label that should concern anyone who values limited government and due process.
A separate deleted post, also surfaced by The Bulwark, showed Zacharia replying to California Governor Gavin Newsom that “the federal government under @realDonaldTrump should take over all of California” because Newsom “can’t be trusted to do a single thing”. Calling for Washington to seize control of a state runs against the federalist principle that conservatives have long championed: power belongs close to the people, not centralized in Washington.
Vaccine Claims and Midterm Warning Add to the List
The archived account also reportedly called Bill Gates “a eugenicist” pushing “everyone to get a toxic jab,” and shared a claim that “8 in 10 women had a miscarriage after getting the COVID vaccine”. That miscarriage statistic does not match mainstream vaccine-safety data and appears to be false. Another post, sent to conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, reportedly warned Republicans would face a midterm “bloodbath” without a course change.
OK Magazine reported that Zacharia “tried to scrub her social media history” before stepping into the press secretary role. The available reporting documents that the old account went dark, but it does not include a public statement from Zacharia explaining why or when the posts came down.
Katie Zacharia, Donald Trump's newly appointed White House press secretary, is facing fresh scrutiny over alleged previous social media posts in which she allegedly labeled Democrats "pedophiles" and seemingly endorsed conspiracy theories regarding an … https://t.co/IBDBLPDwMm pic.twitter.com/iWMCM1G96S
— Irish Star US (@IrishStarUS) October 12, 2026
Pattern of Deleted-Post Controversies Isn’t New
Deleted-post fights are not unique to Zacharia. Neera Tanden, President Biden’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, deleted more than 1,000 tweets shortly after the 2020 election. More recently, a PolitiFact review of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s accounts found 100 deleted posts, though none tied to the specific claim being checked, and noted that two major tweet-tracking projects lost platform access in 2023.
That history shows deleted posts often become part of the vetting process for any new appointee, left or right. The difference here is substance. Calling to suspend habeas corpus and federalize a state are not routine political missteps. They touch directly on constitutional limits that conservatives have fought for decades to defend, and voters deserve a full accounting from the White House before the story fades from headlines.
Sources:
unitingnow.substack.com, yahoo.com, alternet.org, thewrap.com, ibtimes.co.uk, thedailybeast.com
