Newly appointed White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is trying to set the record straight after she claimed to have passed the bar exam when she moved to China.
“I assumed the question was, ‘Where were you after law school?’” Zacharia, 41, told The New York Times on Wednesday, October 14. “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.”
She also pointed out that it was only her second day on the job serving in President Donald Trump’s White House.
“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to CNN on Thursday, October 15. “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.”
Us has reached out to the White House for comment. Being an attorney or lawyer is not a requirement to serve as a White House press secretary.
Earlier in the week, Zacharia described herself as a lawyer while the president called her “an attorney.” When she was asked on Tuesday, October 13, in which state she had passed the bar exam, she twice replied, “When I moved to China.”
According to multiple reports, Zacharia didn’t pass the California bar exam after obtaining a law degree from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.
The New York Times and CNN reported that they were unable to find a law license for her in California or anywhere else she has lived in the United States.
On her LinkedIn account, Zacharia claims she worked as an “associate” in the international practice group at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing for nearly two years starting in 2011.
She also lists herself as “general counsel” for the activist group Fix California.
“The State Bar of California has no record of Kate Sharon Zacharia or Kate Sharon Black having been licensed to practice law in California,” a spokesperson for the California State Bar told CNN in a statement, referring to her maiden name. “Due to confidentiality requirements, the State Bar can only confirm whether someone passed the bar exam, not whether they took the bar exam.”
Professional background aside, Zacharia also faced criticism earlier this week for her first White House press briefing.
She spent 14 minutes at the podium and took questions from only three outlets before ending the briefing as Trump, 80, prepared to depart the White House for a campaign trip to Alaska.
“I am grateful to serve President Trump as press secretary,” she said in a statement, “and I will diligently and effectively amplify his successful agenda.”
