The key facts
- Donald Trump called Zacharia an attorney when announcing the appointment; she does not appear in any state bar registries
- According to WSJ, she failed the California bar exam; in China, foreigners cannot obtain a license to practice law
- Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California on October 14
Appointment and questions about credentials
The White House is defending new press secretary Katie Zacharia, who has faced scrutiny over her legal credentials. President Donald Trump called her an attorney when announcing the appointment last week, and she herself has referred to herself as a lawyer. On Tuesday, when asked by a journalist in which state she had passed the bar exam, she said, standing next to the president: “When I moved to China.” According to the BBC, she is not registered with the bar of any state where she has lived.
Zacharia's responses
White House communications director Steven Cheung said Zacharia is “uniquely qualified and extremely smart to inform the American people.” In a statement this week, Zacharia said: “I practiced international transactional law with all the appropriate credentials.” On Wednesday she told the New York Times that when she began appearing on cable news, she asked Pepperdine University what to call herself; according to her, the university's president advised her to call herself a lawyer but not an attorney. She explained the China answer as a misunderstanding: due to the noise from the Marine One helicopter, she said she misheard the question as “Where did you go after law school?”
Education and the exam
The 42-year-old political strategist graduated from Pepperdine University's law school in California in 2011, which the university confirmed. A law degree in the US is not a license to practice law. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zacharia took the California bar exam after graduation but did not pass; a source for the outlet said the exam coincided with preparations for her wedding and move to China. The California bar exam is considered one of the most difficult in the US.
Work in China and the complaint
Zacharia moved to Beijing because of her husband's job at an American private investment firm. Her LinkedIn profile indicates she worked as a junior associate at the firm Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. In China, only PRC citizens can obtain a license to practice law; foreigners may work at law firms in other roles. In February of last year, on the conservative radio show The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Zacharia stated that she had worked as outside counsel for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank. The BBC contacted the World Bank, the IFC, and Zhong Lun Law Firm for comment. According to available information, the World Bank Group sometimes engages outside law firms, which themselves assign their lawyers. Zacharia also served as general counsel for the conservative nonprofit Fix California, founded by Trump ally Ric Grenell, according to her LinkedIn profile. On Wednesday, the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California, demanding an investigation into “whether Zacharia has repeatedly held herself out to the public as entitled to practice law without a license, which California law considers a crime.”
Image source, Getty Images
