White House Press Secretary Admits She Never Passed Bar Exam

Katie Zacharia, the White House press secretary, confirmed on Thursday that she has never passed the bar exam. The acknowledgment came after the Wall Street Journal reported that she failed California's bar in 2011 and did not pass the exam in any other state where she has lived, despite holding a law degree from Pepperdine University and repeatedly describing herself as a lawyer in public and on social media.

In an interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec, Zacharia explained her failure to pass the California bar by saying she was distracted at the time by plans to marry and relocate to China for her husband's work. She said she "didn't think much" of the exam results and believed she didn't need to pass it to do legal work in China, where she later worked on international transaction law. The explanation came after days of confusion about her credentials. Earlier in the week, when reporters asked where she had passed the bar, Zacharia responded cryptically, "I went to China," leaving the question unanswered.

What makes the situation more complicated is the gap between what Zacharia says she claimed and what the record shows. She told CBS News she was "very careful" about how she described herself, insisting she never presented herself as an "attorney at law" and that she consulted experts about the language she could use. She acknowledged there was "a lot of misinformation" about her calling herself a lawyer. Yet CNN reported Thursday that she posted at least 15 times on social media over the past two years identifying herself as an "attorney." Her Instagram biography currently lists her as a lawyer, and on Truth Social, President Trump called her "an attorney" and praised her as "a distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law."

According to the New York Times, Zacharia consulted with Pepperdine's president as she began appearing on cable news about how to describe her background. She was warned against using the words "attorney" or "esquire," the Times reported, but was told "lawyer" was acceptable. That distinction, however, may not hold legal weight in California. On Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability, a liberal watchdog group, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California, arguing that Zacharia may have violated state law by holding herself out as a lawyer without a license. California Business and Professions Code Section 6126 makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to advertise or hold themselves out as practicing law or entitled to practice law without being an active licensee of the State Bar.

Nora Freeman Engstrom, a law professor at Stanford Law School, said the statute leaves no room for interpretation. "California law is crystal clear: You can't hold yourself out as a lawyer unless you're authorized to practice law," she told CBS News. She emphasized that the law prohibits not just the unauthorized practice of law but also the unauthorized pretense of being a lawyer—a person need not represent clients or appear in court to violate it. The Campaign for Accountability's executive director, Michelle Kuppersmith, stated that Zacharia "has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility as a television legal commentator and now as the White House spokesperson, yet it seems it was all a lie."

The White House has defended Zacharia's qualifications for her role as press secretary. Communications director Steven Cheung called her "uniquely qualified" and "whip smart," saying she will do "an incredible job." When asked about the complaint filed against her, Cheung attacked the watchdog group on social media, calling it a "radical leftist-organization" and dismissing the complaint as coming from people "suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome." The White House confirmed that Zacharia earned her juris doctor from Pepperdine and worked on international transaction law while living in China with her husband, who worked for an American private equity firm. Zacharia told CBS News she "practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials," though she did not specify which credentials she held. Only Chinese nationals may take the bar exam in China, making it impossible for her to have become a licensed attorney there.

The complaint now sits with the State Bar of California, which will determine whether to investigate whether Zacharia violated state law by misrepresenting her credentials to the public.