Questions about Katie Zacharia’s legal qualifications intensified after the White House press secretary’s first briefing ended with uncertainty over where she had passed the bar exam.
Campaign for Accountability, a US watchdog group, has asked the State Bar of California to investigate whether President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman — the administration’s public face — unlawfully claimed to be a lawyer despite not holding a licence to practise.
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The group said Ms Zacharia had identified herself as a lawyer during television appearances and had listed herself as general counsel of a California-based conservative nonprofit organisation.
“Ms Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, the group’s executive director.
Mr Trump called Ms Zacharia “an attorney” when he announced her appointment last Friday. But journalists have found no record showing that she is licensed to practise law in any US state.
“I practised international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” Ms Zacharia said in a statement to AFP, without saying whether she held a US law licence.
She has not identified where, if anywhere, she was admitted to the bar. When reporters asked on Tuesday where she had passed the bar exam, she responded: “When I moved to China.”
Katie Zacharia and US President Donald Trump speak to members of the media before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC
Failed bar exam
The State Bar of California confirmed to US media that it had no record of Ms Zacharia holding a licence under either her married name or her maiden name.
Ms Zacharia, 41, earned a law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011. That qualification, however, does not by itself permit a person to practise law.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Ms Zacharia took the California bar exam after graduating but failed to pass it, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Foreign nationals are barred from taking China’s bar exam, although they may perform certain types of legal work at Chinese law firms.
According to her professional profile, Ms Zacharia previously worked for a law firm in Beijing.
The questions over her credentials came after a difficult first appearance as White House press secretary on Tuesday. She relied heavily on prepared notes during a briefing that lasted only 14 minutes.
She accepted questions from just three news organisations, all viewed as sympathetic to President Trump, and faltered on several responses. At one point, she mistakenly referred to the president as her husband.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, now a television news host, criticised the performance and likened it to a “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketch.
Mr Trump offered a sharply different assessment, telling reporters: “I thought she was very good.”
Ms Zacharia replaced Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August after emerging as one of the most prominent public defenders of Mr Trump’s second administration.
