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New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia has confirmed that she failed the bar exam and never retook it, as questions continue over how she has publicly described her legal credentials.
Zacharia, appointed by US President Donald Trump last week, acknowledged during a Fox News interview on Thursday that she sat for the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2011 but did not pass. She also confirmed that she did not make a second attempt.
The admission followed scrutiny over Zacharia’s previous descriptions of herself as a lawyer and Trump’s reference to her as an attorney when announcing her appointment. Zacharia has also appeared on television discussing legal issues and previously served as general counsel for conservative nonprofit Fix California.
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Explaining why she did not retake the examination, Zacharia said she was preparing to move to China with her husband at the time and did not expect to need a US law licence. She later worked at a law firm in Beijing and said she handled international transaction law. Foreign nationals, however, are not eligible to sit China’s national legal qualification examination.
Zacharia has defended her use of the term “lawyer,” saying she received advice that her law degree and professional experience allowed her to use the description, although she distinguished it from describing herself as an “attorney at law.”
The Campaign for Accountability has filed a complaint with the State Bar of California seeking an investigation into whether Zacharia improperly presented herself as authorised to practise law. Another group, Democracy Defenders Fund, has also called for scrutiny of her legal background. California law restricts people who are not licensed or otherwise authorised from presenting themselves as entitled to practise law.
The White House has defended Zacharia, describing her as qualified for the press secretary role. The controversy follows her first White House press briefing, where she answered questions from three journalists in a session lasting less than 15 minutes.
