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Zacharia's Halloween outfit post gets a price tag: $2,500

Newsweek puts the outfit in her Halloween post at two thousand five hundred dollars, about sixty-seven times typical costume spending; she held the press job five days.

On air: Gloria Vance on Meet the Pressure
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Watch it as it aired: Gloria Vance on this story, from Meet the Pressure at 10:56 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are New York Post's, the jokes are ours.

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  1. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorNewsweek calculated that Katie Zacharia's Halloween outfit costs two thousand five hundred dollars, about sixty-seven times what the average American spends on a costume.

  2. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorJoining me now is Ignatius Brambeck, a lobbyist who represents critics of the post and defenders of the post. Mr. Brambeck, is the price an outrage?

  3. Ignatius BrambeckFor the record, yes, it is an outrage. Two and a half thousand dollars, for a woman who held the job five days.

  4. Ignatius BrambeckFor the record, it is also a bargain.

  5. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorWhich is it, an outrage or a bargain?

  6. Ignatius BrambeckBoth, depending on the badge. I'm wearing the outrage side today. The bargain side is in my other jacket.

  7. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorShe wrote 'Fit Check for Halloween Fans' and 'Good luck!' Cat Parks, a former Texas Republican vice chair, was not amused. Is that your client?

  8. Ignatius BrambeckMs. Parks is a client. So is the man who joked about it on X, Charles Moran.

  9. Ignatius BrambeckFor the record, I don't comment on clients, except those two.

  10. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorYou represent the person offended and the person joking about it.

  11. Ignatius BrambeckSomebody has to. I bill the outrage by the hour and the joke by the post.

  12. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThe blazer, a Veronica Beard in size double zero, is also owned by Cara Castronuova, who says she's going as an aviator. Is she yours?

  13. Ignatius BrambeckFor the record, no. Ask me again after lunch.

  14. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorSixty-seven times the average, five days in office, and a lobbyist on both sides of the invoice. Verdict: Washington's costume budget is bipartisan.

  15. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorYour lanyard has two sides, Mr. Brambeck, and apparently so does the invoice.

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Photo: DPPed · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0
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