President Donald Trump has tapped former Department of Homeland Security public affairs official Katie Zacharia as White House press secretary, a choice that caught current and former DHS officials who had worked with Zacharia off guard.

Zacharia, 41, worked for several weeks earlier this year as deputy spokeswoman for the 270,000-person federal department before abruptly leaving her post around the time then-Secretary Kristi Noem and special government employee Corey Lewandowski left.

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