New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia gave her first press briefing on Tuesday. But she has spent the days since then facing questions about her own legal credentials rather than President Trump's agenda.
Trump announced last Friday that he had chosen Zacharia, a conservative commentator and former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the administration in August.
In his post on Truth Social announcing her appointment, Trump described Zacharia as an "attorney" as well as "a devoted fan and member of MAGA!" Zacharia holds both a law degree and a bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University, and her LinkedIn page says she served as "general counsel" at Fix California, a nonprofit founded by former acting Kennedy Center director Ric Grenell to promote conservative policies in the Golden State. In media appearances, she has described herself as a lawyer.
But the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that while Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after graduating from law school, she "didn't pass." A senior administration official confirmed to NBC News that Zacharia did not pass the California bar exam. Reuters also investigated her credentials and "could not find records showing Zacharia was registered as an attorney or member of the bar in any U.S. state or the District of Columbia."
Asked by reporters Tuesday on the South Lawn where she passed the bar, Zacharia twice replied, "When I moved to China."
In a phone interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, Zacharia said she misheard the question. "I assumed the question was, 'Where were you after law school?'" she told the paper. "That's all I could hear over the sound of Marine One. And, wanting to respect protocol, the distance behind the president, kept me from moving closer to hear the question."
Zacharia pointed out that it was only her second day on the job.
In a statement to the Washington Post, the White House said that "Katie moved to China with her husband after graduating because of his job at an American private equity firm while she worked on international transaction law." According to USA Today, Zacharia "worked for a Chinese law firm's international-practice team on multimillion-dollar shareholder agreements involving investments through the World Bank." She did not attempt to take the bar exam a second time.
On Thursday, Zacharia confimed that she did not pass the bar, telling the conservative outlet Real America's Voice that she was "incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited" at the time by her impending marriage and move to China.
"We just said… 'I'll take the bar and see what happens,'" Zacharia recalled. "The results are somewhat inconsequential because I knew I wouldn't need the bar in China."
Legal experts told the Times that it's debatable whether a law school graduate can describe herself as a "lawyer" before she passes the bar. But she cannot call herself an "attorney" — someone who is licensed to practice law and give legal advice — nor can she serve as a "general counsel" or as an "associate" at a Chinese law firm, they added.
Zacharia told Real America's Voice that she was "very careful about how I executed this and I never came across as somebody who was an attorney-at-law."
"I consulted for a very long time many people in the field — 'Is it OK and acceptable if I label myself 'lawyer' … and provide legal analysis, not legal advice," she explained. "They said, 'Absolutely,' across the board. 'You can call yourself a lawyer.'"
On Wednesday, a nonprofit watchdog group called Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the California bar asking it to investigate whether Zacharia had violated state law by "repeatedly holding herself out as a lawyer."
White House spokesperson Steven Cheung responded on social media by dismissing the Campaign for Accountability as a "radical leftist-organization run by rabid numbskulls suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome."
What happened in Zacharia's first briefing?
Zacharia's first briefing lasted 15 minutes, most of which was taken up by her opening statement.
"I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House press secretary," Zacharia told reporters in the Briefing Room. "I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted to work with him for a very long time."
She took questions from three news outlets — Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail — before ending the briefing.
Asked what she planned to do as press secretary, Zacharia said, "I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was getting to amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump's incredible agenda for the American people."
In his post on Truth Social announcing her appointment, Trump said Zacharia "has an unblemished record of support, and has been a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning."
Zacharia called the appointment "the honor of a lifetime" in a post on X.
Who is Katie Zacharia?
The 42-year-old California native and mother of four left her role as senior communications adviser to Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs Truth Social, to join the White House. Before that, she served for about two months as a deputy assistant secretary and spokesperson for former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She was best known for her frequent appearances defending the administration's policies on Fox News, CNN, Newsmax, One America News and other outlets. She told CNN in April — around the time she left DHS — that she's a "huge fan of ICE and a big fan of the Border Patrol."
Zacharia first came to Washington in 2006 to intern for the Republican National Committee while George W. Bush was president. She lives in California with her husband and their four young children.
During Tuesday's briefing, she was asked about juggling the competing roles of being a mother and White House press secretary.
"The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable," Zacharia said, before confusing her spouse with her boss. "So my president — excuse me, my husband — is out here."
Zacharia then praised Trump as the "most family-friendly president we've ever had" and said her family will be moving from California to Washington, D.C., soon.
CNN reported on Friday that Zacharia's "selection came about quickly" and that she "was not being considered for the role" as of "last week." CNN also reported that "on multiple occasions, senior officials had narrowed down the list" of possible press secretaries "only to find that candidates had said something negative about the president, disqualifying them from the position."
In a New York Post column in February, Zacharia recounted a clash with liberal patrons of her "local cardio kickboxing gym" that ended with the gym owner asking her not to wear her red "Team Trump 2024" hat to exercise class.
"I responded that I would never take my Trump hat off to appease the left," Zacharia wrote. "I refuse to stay silent."
This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/article/trump-called-katie-zacharia-an-attorney-but-she-didnt-pass-the-bar-exam-who-is-the-new-white-house-press-secretary-210339398.html