According to a Hong Kong media report by The South China Morning Post on October 14, Katie Zacharia, the newly appointed White House press secretary of US President Donald Trump, told reporters on Tuesday that she passed the bar exam when she "moved to China," but did not specify which jurisdiction she did so in. Since she only mentioned China, it is unclear whether she is referring to the time she passed the exam or the location where she obtained her professional license. This has sparked doubts about her legal qualifications.
Reports say that Zakaria has referred to herself as a lawyer on many occasions. This statement was made during her first official press briefing at the White House. According to her LinkedIn profile, she worked as a lawyer at one of China’s largest law firms from 2011 to 2013.
The South China Morning Post noted that Zakaria started working in China in 2011. At that time, candidates for the Chinese National Judicial Examination had to be Chinese citizens; foreign citizens were not eligible to take the exam. Passing this examination is the first step to obtaining legal practice qualifications in mainland China. Moreover, working solely in a law firm in China does not constitute proof of holding Chinese legal practice qualifications.
Meanwhile, independent journalist Jad Legem revealed that no evidence was found indicating that Zacharia has obtained legal practitioner qualifications in 50 states of the United States or in Washington, D.C. After checking the lawyer registration records in New York State, the District of Columbia, California, Texas, and Florida, no such records were found either.
When NBC News asked if Zakaria had passed the bar exam, a White House official did not directly answer. The official said that after graduating from Zakaria Law School, Zakaria moved to China with his husband, who worked for a private equity company in the United States. Zakaria then worked in international trade law in China, and later the two returned to the United States.
Last Friday (the 9th), Trump announced that Zacaria had been chosen to replace Levitt as the White House press secretary. Earlier this year, when Norm served as the US Secretary of Homeland Security nearing the end of his tenure, Zacaria served as the department’s spokesperson for several months.
Zakaria claims to be a lawyer and is also the mother of four children. She frequently appears on conservative television shows and currently serves as a senior communications advisor for Trump’s media and technology group. Previously, she worked as a conservative commentator for Fox News and Newsmax TV, and she also served as the director of development affairs at Pepperdine University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and a law degree.
She revealed in a podcast that after graduation, she spent three years in Beijing, working as a legal counsel for a company and serving as the external legal advisor for the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation (IFC). She spent about six months adjusting to life there and fell in love with it.
