White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia failed the bar exam yet still shared at least 15 social posts calling her an “attorney.”
Zacharia, 41, failed the exam at Pepperdine University in 2011, after graduating from law school there, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, after questions were raised about her credentials. Zacharia told The New York Times that same day that Pepperdine’s president had advised her not to use the terms “attorney” or “esquire” during her cable news appearances, but “lawyer” would be fine.
“The truth is, I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law,” Zacharia similarly told Real America’s Voice.
But Zacharia had no problem over the past two years sharing social media posts labeling her an “attorney,” CNN reports. On X and Truth Social from April 2025 until last month, Zacharia amplified at least 15 Fox News stories and One America News segments that referred to her as such.
In a now-deleted April 26, 2025 post on X, Zacharia shared the following Fox News headline: “Only Democrats don’t want proof of citizenship in US elections, attorney says.” That same headline showed up on her Truth Social account six times that day, and once more on May 14, according to CNN.
Other posts include one on Truth Social on August 23, 2025. “While @realDonaldTrump is brokering peace deals, Newsom is ‘yammering on’ and not working, says attorney,” she wrote, copying the title of a Fox News story.
In May, June and September of this year, Zacharia shared six posts by One America News in which she was called an “attorney.”
The word “attorney” has also come out of Zacharia’s own mouth. In an Aug. 31 Fox News appearance discussing the prosecution of the accused killer of Charlie Kirk, she said, “As a lawyer, the procedural steps are absolutely critical to ensure that they get this right.”
The Fox chyron then also listed the 41-year-old as an “attorney.” The network did the same on multiple occasions.
A source familiar with Zacharia’s thinking told CNN that sharing the posts about her media appearances wasn’t meant to show that she approved of that use of the “attorney” title.
The White House has publicly been supportive of Zacharia.
Communications Director Steven Cheung has said that Zacharia “is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team.”
“She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary,” he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After failing the bar, Zacharia joined the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing as an associate on its international practice team. She was told a law license wasn’t required for her to give legal analysis, the Journal reported.
“I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” Zacharia said in a statement earlier this week, amid questions about whether she was an attorney, as Donald Trump said on Truth Social while announcing her for the role.
The controversy has spurred the ethics watchdog group Campaign for Accountability to call for an investigation by the California state bar into whether Zacharia broke the law. In California, it is a misdemeanor to falsely represent oneself as a practicing lawyer, with a punishment of up to a year in jail or a fine no more than $1,000, or both.
Zacharia’s bar failure aside, many Pepperdine alumni have objected to her new position.
“As a Pepperdine graduate, I’m ashamed to see my alma mater celebrating this,” Instagram user “Waldmansheeranfamily” wrote in response to a glowing post about Zacharia from the school and Dean Paul Caron. “To me, this administration represents the exact opposite of everything Pepperdine taught us to stand for. Deeply disappointing.”
That comment was “liked” 587 times as of publication.
