Trump’s newest press secretary, Katie Zacharia, admits to failing the bar

President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, admitted Thursday that she failed the bar exam and has never been a licensed attorney, after days of speculation about her legal background. 

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Trump appointed Zacharia, a Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law alumna and Ventura County homeowner, on Friday and she hosted her first press conference on Tuesday, giving a stumbling and awkward performance that included referring to her husband as her “president.” But a cloud of controversy has hung over Zacharia’s resume and her habit of referring to herself as a lawyer.

SFGATE and other media outlets have been unable to find any record of her being a licensed attorney, yet she has repeatedly identified herself in media appearances and on her resume as a lawyer. That includes calling herself “general counsel” for Fix California, a nonprofit group. 

Two separate complaints were filed this week asking the California Bar Association to investigate her work with that organization, alleging she broke the law by practicing as a lawyer despite not being licensed as one. On Wednesday, SFGATE reached out to an email address associated with Zacharia at Fix California asking if she had worked as an attorney for the firm. An email signed “Katie” responded saying, “I never provided legal services.” 

Then on Thursday Zacharia admitted in an interview with Jack Posobiec, a conservative political activist and television correspondent, that she failed the bar. She blamed the results on being “incredibly … distracted and overwhelmed” after marrying her long-distance partner, who lived in China. She said the results were “somewhat inconsequential” because she then took a job at a Chinese law firm where she did not need to be a licensed attorney in the United States.

“I had all the necessary requirements to do that and was able to do it effectively and well and had glowing recommendations from the senior partner there,” she said.

Zacharia didn’t explicitly respond to Posobiec when he asked her why she didn’t retake the bar when she moved back to the United States, instead pointing out that she had four kids in six years. 

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“A lot of the misinformation, miscommunication, Jack, is around the fact that I labeled myself lawyer,” she said.

Zacharia explained that she consulted experts in the legal field on whether it was “OK and acceptable” to refer to herself as a lawyer –– she clarified she was not calling herself “attorney at law, not Katie Zacharia esquire” –– and to provide legal analysis. 

She said that everyone told her “absolutely.” 

“It’s unfortunate that people dub this as some kind of conspiracy or want to put me in a camp, 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,” she continued. 

Zacharia said she has no plan to offer any legal analysis or advice in her role as press secretary. Her job, she said, “is to amplify and communicate” the president’s message, and to “strengthen relationships.”