WASHINGTON — A senior administration official said Katie Zacharia, now the White House briefing-room lead, sat for California bar testing after Pepperdine Law and did not pass, intensifying scrutiny of how she has billed her credentials.
President Donald Trump introduced her as an attorney. Zacharia has long used the word lawyer on television. Several practitioners told reporters that word usually signals a passed bar and a license. California bar spokespeople said state files show no California license for her and that her name never showed on a pass list.
Zacharia said she did international transaction work in China with proper credentials and that she deliberately preferred lawyer over attorney at law or esquire after consulting people in the field. She denied posing as a licensed attorney at law.
Pepperdine conferred her law degree in 2011. Profiles list Beijing firm work afterward and a later general-counsel post at a California nonprofit. Specialists note U.S. bar tests are given only at designated American sites, and that Chinese bar admission is reserved for Chinese citizens.
Advocacy groups have urged California officials to examine unauthorized-practice questions. Communications director Steven Cheung called her uniquely suited for the job and attacked one complaining organization. Public White House guidelines do not require bar admission for the press secretary role.
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