White House spokesperson Katie Zacharia’s law career faces scrutiny

Katie Zacharia has repeatedly claimed to be a lawyer, but critics question if she passed the bar exam to be licensed.

White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia accompanies US President Donald Trump to speak to reporters outside the White House on October 13, 2026 [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary under United States President Donald Trump, has drawn increasing criticism over claims about her professional background.

On Wednesday, a public accountability nonprofit filed a complaint with the State Bar of California over Zacharia’s repeated claims that she was a lawyer.

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If made falsely, such a claim is a crime in the state. According to Zacharia’s LinkedIn profile, she received a degree from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in 2011, but critics have questioned whether she received a licence to practise law, as she has suggested.

“Ms. Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility as a television legal commentator and now as the White House spokesperson,” Michelle Kuppersmith, the head of the Washington, DC-based Campaign for Accountability, said in a statement. “Yet it seems it was all a lie.”

Her organisation filed the complaint with California’s bar office, a regulatory agency that oversees the licensing of lawyers.

“In California, calling yourself a lawyer without a license isn’t puffery; it’s a crime,” Kuppersmith said.

“The State Bar should investigate whether Ms. Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has.”

Zacharia, a commentator who has appeared frequently on Fox News and Newsmax, began her term as White House press secretary on Tuesday.

In a news briefing that day, she seemed to falter and speak haltingly, sometimes having to repeat herself.

Her appearance was brief, lasting under 15 minutes. She spent much of her time at the podium thanking Trump for the opportunity and reading from a prepared statement.

“I have wanted to work for him for a very long time,” Zacharia said.

Later, she joined Trump outside the White House to speak further with reporters. When asked where she had passed the bar exam, Zacharia replied, “When I moved to China.”

The response was an apparent reference to a three-year stint in which she claims she worked at a law firm in Beijing.

A biography on the website for the pro-Trump women’s organisation Trumpettes USA Inc says she “served as outside counsel” for the World Bank and International Finance Corporation while in Beijing.

Her LinkedIn profile, meanwhile, indicates Zacharia served as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. More recently, from 2024 to 2025, it lists her as general counsel for Fix California, a voter rights group started by a Trump administration official.

On her Instagram profile, Zacharia describes herself as a “Wife, Mom, & Lawyer”.

But Zacharia’s assertion that she passed the bar in China has fuelled media scrutiny. China’s equivalent of the bar exam, the notoriously difficult National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination, can only be taken by Chinese citizens.

China has, on rare occasion, allowed foreigners to practise law in the country if they have several years of experience in their home countries first.

But that does not appear to be the case for Zacharia. According to media reports, Zacharia has not been found to be licensed as a lawyer in any state in the US.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Zacharia responded to the scrutiny by saying, “I practice international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.”

Since Trump’s return to office for a second term, Zacharia has spent several months as a communications adviser at the Department of Homeland Security.

Since June, she has also worked as the senior communications adviser at the Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the Truth Social platform.

凯蒂·扎卡里亚多次声称自己是律师，但批评人士质疑她是否通过了律师资格考试并获得执业资格。

2026年10月13日，白宫新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚陪同美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫外向记者发表讲话。[凯文·拉马克/路透社]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的新任白宫新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚因其职业背景而受到越来越多的批评。

周三，一家公共问责非营利组织向加州律师协会提出申诉，指控扎卡里亚多次声称自己是律师。

名单1/3：卡罗琳·莱维特将辞去白宫新闻秘书一职

名单2/3：凯蒂·扎卡里亚被选为下一任白宫新闻秘书

白宫新任新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚举行首次新闻发布会（共3条，此为第3条）

如果这种说法是虚假的，那么在该州就构成犯罪。根据扎卡里亚的领英个人资料，她于2011年毕业于佩珀代因大学卡鲁索法学院，但批评人士质疑她是否像她所说的那样获得了律师执业资格。

“扎卡里亚女士一再自称是律师，以此来巩固她作为电视法律评论员以及现在的白宫发言人的声誉和信誉，”总部位于华盛顿特区的“问责运动”负责人米歇尔·库珀史密斯在一份声明中说。“然而，这一切似乎都是谎言。”

她的组织向加州律师协会（负责监管律师执照发放的机构）提交了投诉。

“在加利福尼亚州，没有执照就自称律师不是吹嘘，而是犯罪，”库珀史密斯说。

“州律师协会应该调查扎卡里亚女士是否在资历方面误导了公众，如果她确实这样做了，就应该追究她的责任。”

经常出现在福克斯新闻和 Newsmax 的评论员扎卡里亚于周二开始担任白宫新闻秘书。

在当天的新闻发布会上，她似乎语无伦次，说话断断续续，有时不得不重复自己的话。

她的露面时间很短，不到15分钟。她的大部分时间都花在讲台上，感谢特朗普给予她这个机会，并宣读了一份事先准备好的声明。

“我一直很想为他工作，”扎卡里亚说。

随后，她与特朗普一同在白宫外接受记者采访。当被问及在哪里通过了律师资格考试时，扎卡里亚回答说：“我搬到中国后就通过了。”

她的回应显然是指她声称曾在北京一家律师事务所工作过三年的经历。

支持特朗普的女性组织 Trumpettes USA Inc 网站上的一篇传记称，她在北京期间曾“担任世界银行和国际金融公司的外部顾问”。

与此同时，她的领英个人资料显示，扎卡里亚于 2011 年至 2013 年在北京中伦律师事务所担任律师助理。最近，从 2024 年到 2025 年，她的个人资料显示她担任“修复加州”（Fix California）的总法律顾问，这是一个由特朗普政府官员创办的选民权利组织。

扎卡里亚在她的 Instagram 个人资料中将自己描述为“妻子、母亲和律师”。

但扎卡里亚声称她通过了中国的律师资格考试，这引发了媒体的密切关注。中国的律师资格考试，即难度极高的全国统一律师职业资格考试，只有中国公民才能参加。

中国极少数情况下允许外国人在该国从事法律工作，前提是他们必须先在自己的国家拥有数年的法律从业经验。

但扎卡里亚的情况似乎并非如此。据媒体报道，扎卡里亚在美国任何州都没有获得律师执照。

扎卡里亚在接受美联社采访时回应了这些质疑，他说：“我从事国际交易法业务，拥有所有相应的资质。”

自特朗普连任以来，扎卡里亚已在国土安全部担任了几个月的通讯顾问。

自六月以来，她还担任特朗普媒体与技术集团的高级通讯顾问，该集团拥有 Truth Social 平台。