Trump press secretary says she didn’t pass bar, downplays result

White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia acknowledged Thursday that she did not pass the California bar exam, but downplayed the results as she sought to get past mounting questions over her legal credentials.

Zacharia said it was “correct” that she had not passed during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night and told him that she did not sit for the bar a second time.

“I graduated Pepperdine, got married in the same week, and we had all intent to move out to China,” Zacharia said, referring to her husband, who worked for a private equity firm in that country. “I had already pre-registered for the bar exam, and during — basically during the summer — I knew I would be living in China, and the results of the bar were inconsequential. And I sat for it because I didn’t want to have a withdraw status.”

Zacharia said that when she moved to China, she got a job “in an international practice of a Chinese law firm” where she did “multi-cross country border transactions and multi-million dollar shareholder agreements.”

The new press secretary, whom President Donald Trump described as “an attorney” when announcing her appointment, has faced scrutiny over her legal career. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Zacharia had failed the bar exam in her home state of California before moving to China.

Zacharia in an earlier interview Thursday said she had sought advice from legal professionals who told her it was acceptable to call herself a lawyer and provide legal analysis instead of legal advice.

ADVERTISEMENT

CONTINUE READING BELOW

“They said: ‘absolutely, absolutely across the board. You can call yourself a lawyer. You have a JD, and to buffer that, you have international legal experience in transactional law, which gives you the ability to analyse it, not necessarily give advice,” she said in an interview with the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice. “The truth is, is I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law.”

Hannity pressed her on those comments later Thursday, saying that there was “a report out tonight that showed 15 social media posts where you identify yourself as an attorney.”

“I think they were retweets, and I corrected the record and said that those are not endorsing the title. They were retweets of a title that had been given,” Zacharia said.

A JD or Juris Doctor is a graduate-level degree for people seeking to practice law in the US. Zacharia earned her degree from Pepperdine Law School in 2011, according to an announcement from the university.

The White House has defended Zacharia over the questions regarding her legal career but did not address Zacharia’s status as a lawyer when asked about the Journal report.

“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.”

ADVERTISEMENT:

CONTINUE READING BELOW

According to the American Bar Association, someone in the US who graduates from law school cannot practice law or present themselves as an attorney before passing a bar exam and being admitted to a state bar. Zacharia posted Trump’s announcement of her appointment, including the assertion that she was an attorney.

Adding to the scrutiny over Zacharia was her first press briefing earlier this week, in which she read haltingly from prepared remarks and only took three questions from journalists.

Asked by Hannity how she thought the briefing went, Zacharia said she handled the briefing with “very little prep time.”

“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.”

© 2026 Bloomberg

#Trump #press #secretary #didnt #pass #bar #downplays #result