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Posted on 10/15/2026 5:35:52 AM PDT by DFG
President Donald Trump's new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia failed the California bar exam and has never passed one in the United States, despite repeatedly describing herself as a lawyer and being introduced by the president as an attorney.
The revelation has sparked fresh questions about the legal credentials of Trump's latest high-profile appointment, whose professional history includes working at a prestigious Chinese law firm and serving as general counsel for a political nonprofit.
Zacharia, who graduated from Pepperdine University's law school in 2011, sat for the California bar exam shortly afterward but failed, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
She was preparing for her wedding and an international move to China with her future husband at the time, according to the source.
Despite never passing an American bar examination, Zacharia went on to build a career involving international legal transactions and regularly presented herself as a lawyer during television appearances.
Her credentials have now come under intense scrutiny after searches of attorney licensing records in California, Texas and Washington, D.C., failed to identify her as a registered attorney under either her married or maiden name.
The controversy intensified when progressive journalist Judd Legum raised questions about her professional qualifications in his Popular Information newsletter.
And when Zacharia was directly questioned by a reporter on Tuesday about which state had admitted her to the bar, her response did little to clear up the mystery.
'When I moved to China,' she replied, without providing any further explanation.
On Wednesday evening, she spoke with The New York Times in an attempt to explain her answer.
'I assumed the question was, "Where were you after law school?"' she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
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She’s press secretary not White House Counsel. Who cares.
She should have studied with me.
She’s a press secretary
What kind of credentials does she need ?
Nor being a lawyer gives her far more respect in my book.
“Didn’t pass the bar exam”
Aren’t all press flacks also lawyers?
Maybe Liawatha can forge a certificate for her. 🙃
From AI:
“Approximately 40% of bar exam takers fail the exam. This failure rate is derived from 2022 data, where 59% of the 62,951 applicants passed, leaving about 37,141 individuals who did not pass.
Key factors influencing pass rates include:
Exam Timing: February exams typically have lower pass rates (often below 50%) compared to July exams, which see higher rates due to a larger volume of first-time test-takers.
First-Time vs. Repeaters: First-time takers from accredited law schools generally pass at higher rates (around 75–84%), whereas repeat takers often have pass rates below 40%, and as low as 13% in some jurisdictions like Alabama.
Jurisdiction Variance: Pass rates vary significantly by state; for instance, California has notoriously low pass rates (e.g., 44–45% overall), while states like Utah and Iowa report rates exceeding 80%. “
Notably, she took the exam in California.
Bar exam?
Did she fail the Public Speaking Class too?
Being afraid of being is no credential for being a press secretary
That would be failed lawyers.
She is a lawyer, but she is not an attorney.
My problem with her is that she is slow on the uptake and looks down with her answers indicating deceptiveness. She’s just not a good speaker.
Because she got a law degree and worked as a lawyer in China and didn’t pass the bar and that’s just wrong, don’t you see?
Yeah well I don’t either.
did not get good feeling about her when I first saw her picture, she seems mostly clueless. If she is willing to lie about bar exam, what else? and in the article she was asked a question and answered as if asked a different one? bad choice.
She’s legally blonde.
Didn’t she confirm that she passed the bar in China? Either way, I don’t see how it has any bearing on her ability to serve as the White House press Secretary.
If she’s presenting herself as a lawyer, yet never passed the bar, then she’s made a big mistake. Truth will out, as they say. And in a position of high visibility, you know people are going to examine you to the nth degree.
Best to just come clean & put an end to the controversy. I’m sure Trump won’t be bothered by this.
She’s a blonde who is easy on the eyes. She’s hired!
Media is just desperate to stir up controversy. She graduated from a law school but she’s not practicing law — big deal.
Let’s get the opinion of Dr Abdul al-Sayed on this one. Actually, a law degree is a a doctorate, so why dont we just start calling her doctor, like we call him doctor, and then we’re all good
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