White House press secretary Katie Zakaria admits she failed the bar exam
White House press secretary Katie Zakaria said on 15 October that she had not passed the bar exam, as a complaint asked California to investigate her claim to be a lawyer.
Admission on Fox News
Katie Zakaria, who joined the White House on 12 October as its press secretary, told Fox News host Sean Hannity on the evening of 15 October that she had not passed the bar exam. Asked whether she had failed it, she confirmed she had, and when Hannity asked whether she had sat the exam a second time, she said she had not. In a separate interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec, published after a Wall Street Journal report, she made the same acknowledgement.
What the Wall Street Journal reported
The Wall Street Journal reported that Zakaria sat the California bar exam in 2011, the year she graduated from Pepperdine University's law school, and did not pass. Pepperdine confirmed her 2011 graduation. According to the paper, her name does not appear in the licensing records of California, Texas or Washington, under either her maiden or married name, and she holds no license in any state where she has lived. Citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter, the newspaper said she was one of four associates in the international department of Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing, where she drafted multimillion-dollar contracts for cross-border deals. Those associates did not need a Chinese license, the source said, because they worked as international legal advisers.
Her explanation
Zakaria told Posobiec that when she took the exam she was preparing to marry and to move to China, where her husband would work for a US private investment firm. She said she gave little weight to the result because she did not need a US license to keep working in China. She said she had been careful in how she described herself, had never presented herself as licensed to practice law, and had asked experts how to describe her professional status. A White House official confirmed she holds a law degree from Pepperdine and said she had worked in international transactions law in China. Asked which state she had passed the exam in, she answered that she had moved to China. In a statement, she said she had practiced international transactions law with all the appropriate qualifications.
Trump and the White House response
Trump introduced Zakaria as a lawyer when he announced her appointment to succeed Karoline Leavitt, who has left the post. A White House spokesperson described her as an outstanding addition to the team, and an official said Trump did not hire her to handle legal cases. Trump told reporters he thought her first briefing was very good.
Complaint and first briefing
On 14 October the Campaign for Accountability, a non-profit that works on accountability and ethics, filed a complaint with the California bar asking it to investigate possible unlicensed practice of law and to refer the matter to prosecutors if the conduct breached state law. The group cited California law, under which presenting oneself to the public as entitled to practice law without a license is a criminal offense. A bar spokesperson told NBC that Zakaria has never appeared on a list of exam passers and that state records contain no entry showing she was licensed.
Her first briefing on 13 October lasted under 15 minutes and took questions from three reporters. Commentators criticized the performance, although Trump said he thought it was very good.
- Graduates from Pepperdine law school; WSJ reports she failed the California bar exam that year
- Moves to Beijing and works in the international department of Zhong Lun Law Firm
- Joins the White House as press secretary
- First press briefing, under 15 minutes, with three reporters
- Campaign for Accountability files complaint with the California bar
- Confirms on Fox News that she did not pass the bar exam
