WH Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Lied About Her Legislation Diploma, She Failed the Bar

This week, the brand new White Home press secretary began work. Katie Zacharia, a bleached blonde who can barely learn, gave a shaky handful of press briefings from the White Home podium this week. Aaron Rupar mentioned Zacharia made Karoline Leavitt appear like Winston Churchill. Whereas I can not stand a single individual working for this trash administration, I additionally acknowledge that Zacharia is mainly “contemporary meat” for a press out of contact with the White Home. They might relatively not do the legwork on all of the horrible, unlawful, immoral shit the Trumpers are doing, so the press has been busy crawling on the brand new press secretary’s butt. What they found was that she lied about one thing fairly essential on her resume: she by no means handed a bar examination, she was by no means licensed to apply legislation, and it seems she one way or the other “practiced legislation” in China. She additionally referred to herself as a barrister, barrister, and “basic counsel.” Layer of liar liar on hearth.

Is President Trump’s new press secretary a lawyer — or did she simply play one on TV? After three days of labor, Katie Zacharia wonders if she has embroidered her credentials. She describes herself as a lawyer and the president has referred to as her a “lawyer.” When requested Tuesday during which state she handed the bar examination, she replied twice: “Once I moved to China.” Eh?

The second capped a shaky starting for the girl who took what is maybe the hardest public relations job in the USA. She now discovered it troublesome to inform her personal story.

On Wednesday night, she advised the New York Instances that each one this misunderstanding about “avocado,” “lawyer” and “China” was only one large misunderstanding.

“I assumed the query was, ‘The place have been you after legislation faculty?’ “, she mentioned, answering a fast telephone name on the tarmac in Arizona, the place the president was holding a midterm rally.

“That’s all I may hear over the sound of Marine One,” she mentioned. “And, desirous to respect protocol, the gap behind the president prevented me from getting nearer to listen to the query.”

It was solely her second day on the job, she famous.

So here is the lowdown on not-really-a-lawyer Katie Zacharia: She earned a legislation diploma from Pepperdine College in 2011. By some interpretations, that technically makes her a lawyer, despite the fact that many authorized specialists have mentioned that would not be the case. However is she a lawyer, somebody who’s licensed to apply legislation and provides authorized recommendation? For that, he would have needed to cross the bar. The Wall Road Journal reported Wednesday that she took the California bar examination after incomes her legislation diploma, however didn’t cross. The Instances was unable to search out him a legislation license in California or elsewhere in the USA.

Throughout Wednesday’s temporary telephone name, the Instances didn’t have an opportunity to ask her once more whether or not she had ever handed a bar examination. However earlier than she left, she defined that when she started showing on cable information, she consulted with Pepperdine’s president about how she ought to determine herself. She mentioned she was warned to not use the phrases “lawyer” or “squire,” however that “lawyer” was OK. However what about “basic counsel”, would that be appropriate? As a result of, on LinkedIn, Ms. Zacharia recognized herself as such for Repair California, a bunch led by Trump loyalist Richard Grenell.

“You possibly can’t be basic counsel at an organization in the USA except you are admitted to the bar to apply legislation,” mentioned Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the College of California, Berkeley, legislation faculty. “A basic counsel implies that you simply apply legislation and provides authorized recommendation to the corporate. You can’t apply legislation with out a license.”

On Wednesday, a watchdog group filed a criticism with the State Bar of California, calling for an investigation into whether or not Ms. Zacharia “repeatedly represented herself to the general public as having the proper to apply legislation with out a license to take action, which is taken into account a criminal offense beneath California legislation.”

[From The NY Times]

There’s additionally an extended dialogue about whether or not she additionally lied about being a lawyer in China – she claimed she had labored at a legislation agency in China. Though she technically labored in a legislation agency, this can be very unlikely that she was given a authorized job or a job requiring a legislation diploma. However you get the concept: She bought her legislation diploma, handed the California bar, failed it, after which began telling everybody (together with employers) that she was a licensed legal professional. I hope the Bar Affiliation tears it aside.

Enjoyable replace: This mendacity heifer has already been fired from her place as press secretary.

BREAKING: Katie Zacharia is ‘stepping down’ as Trump press secretary, senior White Home official tells @pdoocy https://t.co/FJb9QCZwZh

– Fox Information (@FoxNews) October 16, 2026

Images courtesy of Cowl Photographs.