CNN host Erin Burnett’s first impression of the new White House press secretary doesn’t look good.
Katie Zacharia bragged about record crowds, and Burnett had the perfect comeback: video of empty seats. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, Burnett answered Zacharia’s claim of record-high rally crowds by rolling footage from President Donald Trump’s Ohio rally the night before.
Zacharia, 41, had stepped to the podium for the first time earlier that day, three weeks out from the midterm elections. She replaced Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in late August after having her second child.
One of her first remarks landed on a subject Trump never tires of. “Attendance is at record highs as enthusiastic, hard-working Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans,” Zacharia said.
Burnett, 50, played the clip on “Erin Burnett OutFront” and let it sit for a beat. “Trump needs an effective communicator. There’s just 21 days before the election, obviously, and Katie Zacharia is focused on Trump’s crowd sizes,” Burnett said. She said it was odd to be pushing that point with so little time left.
Empty Seats at the Covelli Center
Then came the receipts. CNN cut to video from Trump’s rally the night before at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio, where blocks of seats sat unused, including some with a straight view of the stage. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins had flagged the gaps shortly after Trump’s appearance on Monday, Oct. 12.
The White House said press equipment and an American flag created the holes in the seating. CNN found that the seats beside the press risers were not blocked. Trump’s Rapid Response team brushed off the coverage as “just more Fake News.”
Trump, 80, had already been working the subject himself, firing off at least seven Truth Social posts on Monday morning hyping his turnout. One analysis estimated that his Oct. 2 rally at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile drew about 8,000 people, well under the roughly 30,000 he pulled in the city in 2015.
The Maine Ad That Aired in Oregon
Burnett linked the thin crowds to how Republicans are spending their money, and one example stood out. The GOP super PAC Defending Main Street is backing Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Its ad buyer spent nearly $25,000 airing a spot attacking Democratic nominee Troy Jackson in Portland, Ore., rather than Portland, Maine. The ad was pulled and the buyer was refunded.
Republican groups, Burnett said, are also pulling cash out of races they may already consider lost. In New Jersey, she said, they scrapped all advertising for Rep. Tom Kean Jr. In Iowa, they are cutting their losses on Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
14 Minutes and Three Reporters
The briefing that set all this off was unusually brief. It lasted just 14 minutes, and Zacharia called on three reporters — from Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail. She said she hoped to “amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump’s incredible agenda.”
The briefing still made news. The White House confirmed it had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, to resign following allegations of improper conduct, which she denies. Zacharia called Guilfoyle “a wonderful asset to the team” and said, “we wish her well.”
Burnett later called the briefing “brutal,” citing a White House official who told CNN it had gone poorly. The White House has swung at Burnett before: last month, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung hit back at her with a slur-laden insult.
Zacharia said Trump would keep up his midterm blitz, pointing to stops in Kentucky, Georgia and Florida. The numbers he is campaigning against are stubborn ones. Just 33 percent of voters say he is doing a good job in CNN polling, and inflation climbed to 3.7 percent in the latest report, the last one voters will see before Election Day.