Katie Zacharia served as White House press secretary for only five days before being dismissed, and spent much of that short period defending a résumé that raised eyebrows. She had long claimed to be a practicing attorney, yet she never passed the California bar and later admitted the omission. In addition, WIRED reported she had worked as an affiliate marketer for Beachbody, a fitness multilevel-marketing company, adding another layer of controversy to her professional narrative.
A separate investigation uncovered Zacharia’s alleged connection to NRED Intelligent Mining, an AI-driven rare-earth extraction venture that lists former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem as a strategic adviser. On June 24, the company,then operating as NovaRed Mining, a modest copper-and-gold explorer based in Vancouver,issued a press release announcing Zacharia’s appointment to its advisory board alongside Noem. The announcement came two months after Zacharia left a spokesperson role at the Department of Homeland Security.
When questioned, Zacharia replied that the release was fabricated and directed reporters to Sam Amsterdam, a strategic-marketing professional whose client list includes the government of Kazakhstan and political parties in Georgia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Amsterdam asserted the announcement had not been approved by Zacharia and was issued without her consent, noting his brother appears on NRED’s management roster. He confirmed informal talks about a possible role but maintained she never formally joined the firm.
By spring, NovaRed began populating its advisory board with figures from the defense sector, MAGA circles and international networks rather than traditional geologists. Retired Navy commander Phil Ehr, now a Democratic congressional candidate in Florida, joined the board earlier in the year. Ehr told WIRED he knows nothing about mining but emphasized the need for more copper and critical minerals, and said he was surprised to learn that Zacharia and Noem were added without his knowledge.
Ehr also noted that other recent appointees included Gregory Fedun, a former adviser to the United Arab Emirates’ Al Mualla royal family, and Lee Caplin, a media executive who co-produced HBO’s True Detective. Discomfort with Noem’s presence prompted Ehr to resign from the advisory board shortly after her appointment. Noem, who had recently overseen a contentious ICE operation in Minneapolis, did not respond to requests for comment.
Amid the NRED controversy, Zacharia also reached out to a WIRED reporter while still serving as press secretary, suggesting they contact fitness influencer Jenelle Summers for clarification on her prior Beachbody affiliation. Summers responded that she had no comment beyond noting Zacharia had always been kind to her.