US President Donald Trump said on Friday (October 16) that he had advised new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia to reconsider her role, as she faces mounting criticism over claims that she was a lawyer and a widely criticised debut press briefing.
“I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?’” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for Georgia. “I said, ‘Katie, you don't have to do this’.... I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider.’”
“I told her, I think you're better off being happy,” he added.
Trump defended Zacharia, saying she had been treated "unfairly by the media”.
Zacharia's future appeared uncertain barely a week after taking up the position, with interviews on conservative media outlets failing to quell the controversy surrounding her professional credentials and her first appearance at the White House briefing room podium.
Katie Zacharia faces scrutiny over lawyer claims
The controversy centres on Zacharia's repeated descriptions of herself as a lawyer during television appearances and on social media.
The 41-year-old graduated from Pepperdine University's law school in 2011 acknowledged on Thursday that she had failed the bar examination, which is generally required to practise law in the United States.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, she confirmed that she had not retaken the examination.
“I had four kids in six years,” Zacharia said, explaining that practising law had never been her intention.
She said she graduated from Pepperdine, got married the same week and had planned to move to China with her husband, who worked for a private equity firm there. She had registered for the bar examination but believed the result would have little relevance to her plans to live in China.
During a separate interview with conservative outlet Real America's Voice, Zacharia said she had consulted people in the legal field who told her she could describe herself as a lawyer based on her law degree and business-law experience in China, where she worked at a Beijing law firm.
“I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney-at-law,” she said.
She also maintained that she could “provide legal analysis, not legal advice”.
Hannity pressed her over reports identifying 15 social media posts in which she had described herself as an attorney. Zacharia said she believed the posts were retweets and that she had corrected the record, arguing that sharing the title did not amount to endorsing it.
According to the American Bar Association, graduating from law school does not, by itself, authorise someone to practise law or present themselves as an attorney. Admission to a state bar is generally required.
Zacharia's first White House briefing draws criticism
Zacharia's professional credentials have come under scrutiny alongside criticism of her first White House press briefing on Tuesday.
The briefing lasted barely 15 minutes. Much of it was spent reading prepared remarks about Trump's achievements at an unusually slow pace, before she took questions from only three journalists in the packed briefing room.
Asked by Hannity how she thought the briefing had gone, Zacharia said she had received little time to prepare.
“I received briefing materials in the morning of Tuesday,” she said. “I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day.”
Her subsequent appearances on conservative media were intended to address the criticism, but the interviews have not put an end to questions about her credentials or her performance at the podium.
The White House has defended Zacharia, although it did not directly address questions about her status as a lawyer when asked about a report in The Wall Street Journal.
“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“She is 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,” he added.
Zacharia succeeded Karoline Leavitt, a combative Trump loyalist who stepped down in August to care for her young children.