After completing her first week as White House Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia avoided addressing questions regarding her past portrayal of herself as a lawyer, maintaining that President Donald Trump had never asked her about her legal education or training.
Zacharia—who frequently appeared on Fox News and other conservative media outlets offering political commentary, often introduced as a "lawyer"—is now facing criticism for accepting this designation, despite never having passed a U.S. bar exam.
Earlier this week, when asked whether she had passed a bar exam, Zacharia claimed she had passed one in China—a country where she had worked following her graduation from Pepperdine University School of Law. This response left journalists puzzled, as the U.S. bar exam is not administered in China, and U.S. citizens are generally ineligible to take Chinese legal examinations.
She later clarified that she had not, in fact, passed a bar exam, noting that it was not a requirement for her employment in China. Furthermore, American legal credentials held little significance for the work she performed there.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday morning, while discussing her "difficult week," Zacharia once again faced unusually tough questioning from the hosts, who asked why she had previously presented herself as a lawyer.
"Fox & Friends" host Lawrence Jones remarked, "The job of Press Secretary is not an easy one, and no one wants to become the news story themselves." "But I have to ask, do you think you should have told the President about the bar exam and the fact that you didn't pass it?"
Zacharia replied immediately, "Lawrence, I wasn't even asked those questions."
She added, "I am being hired as the White House Press Secretary, not as White House legal counsel. The discussions regarding my appointment were based on my role representing the President before the media."
It should be clarified here that the controversy does not stem from the fact that Zacharia failed to pass the bar exam; rather, the issue is that she presented herself as a lawyer despite not having passed the exam—a fundamental requirement for becoming a lawyer.
In several U.S. states—including California, where Zacharia resided until this week—falsely representing oneself as a lawyer can carry legal consequences.
Last week, while announcing the new Press Secretary, Trump wrote: "Katie is a distinguished graduate of Pepperdine University and its Caruso School of Law, an attorney, and a regular commentator on various media outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax."
On Tuesday, Zacharia made headlines again by claiming that she had passed a bar exam in China.
A journalist asked the President, "You said she is a lawyer. Where did she pass the bar exam? In which state?"
Trump deferred the question to his Press Secretary. Zacharia replied, without further elaboration, "When I moved to China." She later acknowledged that she had not heard the question correctly.
However, further questions arose immediately following her response.
Ted Lieu, a Democratic member of Congress from California, wrote on the social media platform X, "No one can take a U.S. state bar exam in China. Bar exams are held at designated testing centers within each U.S. state."
He further questioned, "Are Katie Zacharia and Trump lying when they claim she is a lawyer? If not, they should specify which state’s bar exam she passed."
After graduating from Pepperdine University School of Law, Zacharia lived and worked in Beijing, China, for approximately two to three years.
From around August 2011 to June 2014, she worked at the law firm Zhong Lun. During this period, her husband, Tyler Zacharia, was also based in Beijing, working for a private investment firm.
In a statement provided to the Daily Mail earlier this week, Zacharia said, "I have worked in the field of international trade law, possessing all the necessary credentials."
In addition to her employment in China, Zacharia served as General Counsel for the conservative political organization "Fix California," according to her LinkedIn profile. She has also claimed to have served as an external legal consultant for the World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation.
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