White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Faces Scrutiny After 18 Lawyer Claims Without U.S. Bar Record
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 13
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Faces Scrutiny After 18 Lawyer Claims Without U.S. Bar Record
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 13
Summary
The Washington Post and California State Bar found no active or expired U.S. bar admission record for Katie Zacharia, despite her repeated public descriptions of herself as a lawyer.
Legum identified 18 Fox News appearances in which Zacharia cited legal credentials, while Pepperdine confirmed she earned a J.D. in 2011 but not any license to practice.
The White House offered no evidence of a U.S. law license, saying only that Zacharia worked on international transactional law in China with appropriate credentials.
Legal ethics experts said a J.D. alone does not make someone a lawyer and warned that falsely holding oneself out as licensed can trigger ethical and legal consequences.
Chinese law specialists also said Zacharia likely could not have been admitted there either, because the PRC bar exam is limited to Chinese nationals.