White House spokesperson presents South Korea's $54b Alaska LNG commitment as done deal in first briefing

New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday that South Korea would invest $54 billion in the Alaska liquefied natural gas development project — presenting the commitment as a done deal even as Seoul maintains that it has only just begun reviewing the project's commercial viability and has not yet decided whether to invest.

At her first official briefing, Zacharia said President Donald Trump had "unveiled a Korean energy investment package of up to $200 billion in the United States," calling it "an incredible deal."

She said the package included "up to $120 billion to build eight large nuclear power plants," adding that this was "what America needs and what President Trump promised during the presidential election." She added: "Just as President Trump keeps all his promises, he has kept this one."

Zacharia said the package also included "$54 billion to build an Alaska LNG pipeline and terminal to supply energy to the Pacific Rim and sell fuel to allies," as well as "$22.3 billion to build a 6 GW natural gas power plant in Texas."

South Korea's position is that only the Texas gas power plant project among the three has been finalized, while the other two require further consultations to verify commercial viability.

On the Alaska LNG project in particular, Seoul has drawn a clear line, saying the commercial viability review has only just begun and that no investment decision has been made.

Zacharia, a former conservative broadcast commentator, was appointed by Trump to succeed Caroline Leavitt, the first press secretary of his second administration. She began her duties Tuesday and held her first official briefing that day.

The briefing lasted about 14 minutes. Zacharia spent roughly the first eight minutes promoting Trump's policy achievements before taking questions from three reporters she called on herself — from Breitbart, Fox News and NewsNation.

She then ended the briefing, saying Trump "is on his way to Marine One for his historic trip to Alaska, where you will be able to ask him all of your questions."

To the barrage of questions from other reporters, she said only that "the president will answer."

CNN reported Tuesday that Zacharia had repeatedly posted baseless conspiracy theories on social media, including claims that Democratic figures and Hollywood celebrities were pedophiles.

Questions on the matter had been expected at the briefing, but Zacharia gave no reporters the chance to raise them.

Zacharia also said she would continue her predecessor's policy of actively welcoming new media outlets to the White House press pool, and that she intended to keep her role as a conservative commentator to help Republicans in the midterm elections alongside her duties as press secretary.

Asked whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she did not give a direct answer, saying she would "circle back."

Zacharia said she and her husband have four children — ages 12, 10, 8 and 6. "I want to include my family and my kids in my work as much as possible," she said. "No matter how demanding this job is, my children will always be my top priority."

She also said Trump was "the most family-friendly president in history," adding: "He has hired more women with families, and the fact that he still trusts me — knowing I have four children and that this job will be demanding — shows that I have the ability to handle this responsibility."