The White House is standing behind its new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, as she faces growing scrutiny over whether she is a qualified lawyer. President Donald Trump called her an attorney when he announced her appointment last week, and Zacharia has described herself as a lawyer.
The questions intensified on Tuesday, when a reporter asked her which state had admitted her to practise after passing the bar exam. Standing beside the president, she replied: “When I moved to China.” She does not appear to be registered with the bar in any state where she has lived. White House communications director Steven Cheung said she is “uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people.”
Complaint filed with the California State Bar
In a statement this week, Zacharia said she had “practised international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.” On Wednesday, the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association. The group wants an investigation into whether she repeatedly presented herself to the public as entitled to practise law without a licence, which it said California law treats as a crime.
Zacharia, 42, is a political strategist who graduated from law school at Pepperdine University in California in 2011, a fact the university confirmed. A law degree alone does not allow someone to practise law in the United States.
Explanation of the title and the bar exam
Zacharia told a national newspaper on Wednesday that when she first started appearing on cable news, she asked Pepperdine how she should describe herself. She said the university president advised her that she could call herself a lawyer but not an attorney.
According to a financial newspaper, Zacharia sat the California bar exam after law school but did not pass it. The exam is widely regarded as one of the hardest in the country to pass. A person with direct knowledge of the matter told that outlet she took the test around the time she was planning a wedding and preparing to move to China with her future husband.
Work in China and links to global institutions
She moved to Beijing because of her husband’s job at an American private equity firm, and she has said she worked on “international transaction law” there. Her LinkedIn profile lists her as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. Only Chinese citizens can obtain a licence to practise law in China, although foreign employees may work at law firms in other roles.
In February last year, Zacharia said on the conservative radio programme The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show that she had worked as outside counsel for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank while in China. The World Bank and IFC have been contacted for comment. It is understood that the World Bank Group sometimes hires outside law firms, which decide which of their lawyers handle particular work.
Her LinkedIn profile also names her as general counsel for Fix California, a conservative non-profit started by Trump ally Ric Grenell.
