Asked by a reporter in which state she passed the bar exam, Trump's brand-new White House press secretary answered, "When I moved to China." That is not a state. It is also, per multiple outlets, not an answer, because Katie Zacharia failed the California bar and has no license to practice law anywhere she has lived.
Six Days From Phone Call to Podium
According to the Guardian, a White House official called Zacharia on Wednesday, October 7, and asked her to fly from Los Angeles to Washington. She made the trip Thursday, met officials on Pennsylvania Avenue Friday, and was offered the job that same day. "I flew home, packed two bags, said hi to my kids and husband and dogs," she said.
Six days after that phone call, she was standing behind the podium. Her first briefing, which she said she was "asked to do" on her second day, was widely panned. That is what happens when you hand someone the most scrutinized communications job in the country with the speed of a pizza delivery.
So how did she get here? Zacharia told the conservative outlet Human Events that she "did not want to be seen lobbying" for the gig. Her method was to watch Trump's social media posts closely and then go on conservative talk shows to "audition." Reader, that is a real job interview process now.
The Bar Exam Question That Went Sideways
After the debut briefing, a reporter asked Zacharia to name the state where she passed the bar. She was standing next to the president when she answered: "When I moved to China."
Her explanation, given to the New York Times, is that she "misheard" the question over the roar of Marine One on the South Lawn and thought the reporter had asked where she was after law school. Fine. Helicopters are loud. But notice what she did not do in that same interview: confirm that she passed the bar exam.
She didn't confirm it because she didn't pass it. The Wall Street Journal reported that Zacharia failed the California bar after graduating from Pepperdine's law school in 2011. And on Thursday she admitted it to Jack Posobiec on Human Events, saying she was "distracted and overwhelmed and excited" to join her new husband in China.
Lawyer, Attorney, and Other Words She Apparently Owns
Trump called Zacharia an "attorney" when he announced her appointment. In the United States, that title is reserved for people licensed to practice law. The State Bar of California told the Guardian it has no record of her being licensed under her married name or her maiden name, Katie Black. The BBC reports she does not appear to be registered to the bar in any state where she has lived.
Zacharia has called herself a "lawyer," which she says Pepperdine's president told her was acceptable, though not "attorney." A person familiar with the matter told the Guardian she "stands by" the title given her law degree and "international transactional law experience," and that she has "never given legal advice," just "legal analysis."
Legal analysis. Not advice. Sure. Many legal experts note the two words are used interchangeably in practice, and a law degree is not a license to practice law. A degree is a receipt. The license is the thing you actually bought it for.
The China Years and the Pyramid Scheme
Her LinkedIn says she was an associate at the Beijing firm Zhong Lun from 2011 to 2013. The BBC notes that in China only Chinese citizens can obtain a license to practice law, and foreign employees may work at firms in other roles. Zacharia has said she practiced "international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials." On a conservative radio show last year, she said she worked as outside counsel for the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. The BBC has asked both, and Zhong Lun, for comment.
Then there is the gap. After China, her LinkedIn goes dark for a decade. Wired reported that during that stretch she worked as an "affiliate marketer" for Beachbody, a multi-level marketing company she described to the outlet as "sort of a pyramid scheme." Her words, not ours, and honestly refreshing from an administration that usually describes its pyramid schemes as crypto.
She later claims to have served as general counsel for Fix California, a conservative group founded by Trump ally Richard Grenell. The Guardian has asked both Zhong Lun and Fix California for details about her legal roles there.
A Watchdog Complaint and a Wall of Whip-Smart
On Wednesday, the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability asked the State Bar of California to investigate whether Zacharia misled the public by describing herself as a lawyer. Its complaint says she "repeatedly held herself out to the public as entitled to practise law without a licence to do so, conduct California law treats as a crime."
The White House response was to hold up a sign reading "whip smart." Communications director Steven Cheung said Zacharia is "uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people." Trump, for his part, described her as a "devoted fan of Maga" with "an unblemished record of support." Note which qualification got the longer résumé.
Asked by the Guardian why the White House offered her the job, Zacharia declined to comment. Which, to be fair, is the one question she may be perfectly qualified to answer.
Will She Even Brief Anyone?
Here is the best part. Asked how often she plans to brief the press, Zacharia told the Guardian that is "unknown at this time." Trump, she said, "is his best spokesperson, and I will interact as needed." Then the line that explains the whole job: "I follow the president's lead."
That's a press secretary who has announced, in her first week, that she might not do the press part. She stood at the podium once, got eviscerated, and is now telling reporters the sequel is pending a decision from above.
A press secretary is supposed to be the person who stands between the president and the public and absorbs the questions. This one has already shown the public what happens when a question is asked and the answer is a helicopter.
The Dingo Take
She failed the bar, got the job anyway, and the job requires no bar.
That is the whole story, and it's a perfect little parable for how this administration hires. The qualification that mattered was the audition: watching Trump's posts, going on friendly shows, being a "devoted fan." The law degree was always decoration, and it turns out the decoration was load-bearing only in the sense that someone kept calling her an attorney until a reporter asked a follow-up.
But here's what should bother you more than the résumé fluff. The one skill a press secretary needs is answering questions without setting yourself on fire, and she blew that on day two, in front of the president, on live camera. Her plan now is to "follow the president's lead" and brief when told. So the question was never whether she's a lawyer. It's whether the American public is supposed to get a spokesperson at all, or just a very loud way of not having one.
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