Trump press secretary Katie Zacharia’s law background called into question

Katie Zacharia, the new White House Press Secretary who made her debut at the podium on Tuesday, is facing mounting scrutiny over details of her professional background, including President Donald Trump‘s claims that she is a lawyer, as she transitions into a public-facing role in his administration.

Zacharia, 41, was previously a political commentator for conservative outlets like Fox News and Newsmax, and served as a spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary for public affairs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and worked briefly as a senior communications advisor for Truth Social, which is owned by the Trump Media & Technology Group.

President Trump, when he announced that Zacharia would replace Karoline Leavitt —who resigned in August to spend more time with her family —referred to her as a “distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law” and “an attorney.”

The White House has not offered any evidence that she passed the bar exam in any U.S. state or in China, where she worked for a large law firm years ago, the Associated Press reported.

According to the Wall Street Journal, she failed the California bar in 2011 after graduating from law school at Pepperdine University.

After her first press conference, where she answered only three questions, the president stepped aside to let Zacharia respond when he was asked by reporters where she had passed the bar exam, following a report by the independent outlet Popular Information that she did not appear to be licensed in any state.

“When I moved to China,” she responded over the sound of Marine One whirring in the background. It is not clear what she had intended to say or whether she had finished the sentence, the AP noted.

Only Chinese citizens are eligible to sit China’s National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination.

In addition to her law degree, Zacharia received a Bachelor of Arts in 2007 and is currently involved as a member of the Dean’s Council at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, according to the university.

Asked what credentials she held, the White House later passed along a statement from Zacharia, which read: “I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” it read, the AP wrote.

In a statement on X, White House communications director Steven Cheung said Zacharia was “uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as press secretary.”

According to her LinkedIn profile, from 2011 to 2013, she served as an associate on the International Practice Team at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing and from 2012 to 2013 worked as the manager of fundraising and communications for Compassion for Migrant Children, which assists the children of migrant workers.

More recently, it says she served as general counsel for Fix California, a group started by Trump administration official Richard Grenell.

Neither the firm nor the two groups responded to questions about her tenure and background, the Associated Press said.

On Instagram, Zacharia describes herself as the White House press secretary, “Wife, Mom, & Lawyer.”

In an interview ahead of her first press conference, she told Fox News, “This job is not about me — this job is about him [Trump] and how he wants to communicate.”

— with files from the Associated Press