President Donald Trump's newly installed press secretary has long presented herself as a lawyer, but a bombshell report raises serious doubts about that claim.
Katie Zacharia never passed a bar exam in the United States, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. She took the California bar after finishing law school at Pepperdine University in 2011 and failed it, according to a source with direct knowledge cited by The Journal.
Trump described Zacharia as an attorney when he tapped her for the White House podium. Questions about her credentials began circulating after she turned up in no searches of licensed attorneys in California, Texas or Washington, D.C., under either her married or maiden name. Journalist Judd Legum had flagged the issue in his Popular Information newsletter.
Zacharia offered little clarity when a reporter asked her Tuesday what state she had passed the bar in. "When I moved to China," she answered, and left it there.
She insisted in a statement, "I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials."
After the exam, Zacharia relocated to Beijing to work for Zhong Lun Law Firm. A person familiar with her time there told The Journal that international staff at the firm were considered legal consultants and did not need a Chinese license, since local partners handled formal legal opinions.
Still, Zacharia routinely described herself as a lawyer on cable news. Weighing in on the trial of Charlie Kirk's accused killer during an August 31 Fox News segment, she said, "As a lawyer, the procedural steps are absolutely critical to ensure that they get this right." The network's on-screen graphic labeled her an attorney.
The distinction carries real weight. Practicing law in the U.S. requires a license from the relevant jurisdiction, and some states can bring criminal charges against people who pass themselves off as attorneys without bar admission.
Roger Alford, a Notre Dame law professor who employed Zacharia as a research assistant at Pepperdine, praised her as "a star" but acknowledged that "generally speaking it would be unusual to say that you're a lawyer if you've not passed the bar somewhere."
The White House rallied behind her. Spokesman Steven Cheung called Zacharia "uniquely qualified and whip smart," while a Trump administration official stressed that Trump did not bring her on to handle legal work.