President Donald Trump’s new press secretary is off to a rough start.
New White House flack Katie Zacharia is undergoing a legal background reality check after describing herself as a “lawyer.”
And, after bombing her first press briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 13, she’s also enduring withering criticism from inside the White House over her stilted performance.
Trump first referred to Zacharia as “an attorney” after announcing his decision to replace Karoline Leavitt with the former Trump Media & Technology Group communications adviser.
But it turns out she’s not “an attorney” after all. Yes, she’s a graduate of Pepperdine University’s law school. However, she never passed a bar exam and failed the one she did take in California shortly after graduating, Zacharia confirmed after a report by The Wall Street Journal.
CNN also found that the 41-year-old Zacharia has called herself “either a lawyer or a corporate lawyer” on multiple occasions. She has also repeatedly referred to herself on social media as “attorney or “legal strategist.”
Zacharia later admitted on Thursday that she consulted with Pepperdine’s president about how she could identify herself in media appearances, and he told her not to use the words “attorney” or “esquire,” but that “lawyer” was acceptable.
After her disastrous first press briefing, reporters gathered on the White House South Lawn asked her where she passed the bar. Preparing to head to a campaign rally with Trump and standing behind him at the time, she incredulously said, “In China.”
Later, in a brief phone call with The New York Times, she explained that she couldn’t hear the question.
“I assumed the question was, ‘Where were you after law school?’” Zacharia lamely explained. “That’s all I could hear over the sound of Marine One,” she insisted, “and, wanting to respect protocol, the distance behind the president kept me from moving closer to hear the question.”
A White House official told The Hill that she moved to China with her husband after graduating because of his job at a U.S. private equity firm. She worked on international transaction law as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from August 2011 to June 2013.
Zacharia told NewsNation, which asked for clarification, “I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.”
Social media exploded with Zacharia’s loose use of the terms “lawyer” and “legal analyst.”
“The new D.E.I. that racists are just fine with: Dumb Entitled Incompetent,” a Threads commenter pointed out.
Another joked, “Illegally Blonde.”
This poster summed it up in three words: “What a mess.”
But she doesn’t need a legal background for her role as press secretary. After her first briefing this week, both the press and administration insiders slammed her performance.
While Trump and his communications team praised her wooden performance, others disagreed, according to The Daily Beast.
“She could barely read,” a senior Trump official bluntly said in a leaked text message, according to the Beast.
Another contended, “She looked as if she was handed a sheet of paper at the last minute and wasn’t prepared properly.”
At the briefing, she stiffly read from a prepared statement, took three questions from reporters then wrapped up after just 14 minutes at the podium.
Social media took none too kindly to what critics have called her clear ineptitude and fish-out-of-water persona.
“Trump’s minions are trashing his new White, Entitled, Incompetent (WEI) press secretary in leaked texts. Funny how they never trash the bumbling buffoon who keeps casting people like her… and them,” a Threads commenter stated.
To clarify exactly how to describe her legal background, she has a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. But having failed the bar in California and having taken it in no other state, she cannot legally refer to herself as an attorney or a lawyer.
It varies across states, but holding a law degree does not legally allow a graduate to call themselves a lawyer or an attorney.
“Holding yourself out as an attorney before you are licensed falls under the category of ‘unauthorized practice of law’ and is typically considered grounds for a character and fitness inquiry,” The Bar Examiner explained.