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USA15 October, 20262 min read

Katie Zacharia Admits She Failed the Bar Exam, Defends Calling Herself a Lawyer

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Katie Zacharia admitted she did not pass the California bar exam. She has described herself as a lawyer despite not being licensed.

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Bar exam admission

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia admitted she did not pass the bar exam, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity, "Correct," when he asked, "You went to Pepperdine law school but you did not pass the bar exam, correct?" Zacharia said she did not take the bar exam again, and she told Fox News that she had "very little time to prepare" for her first briefing.

Zacharia said she consulted legal experts who told her it was acceptable to call herself a lawyer by possessing a Juris Doctor (JD) degree and international experience, as long as she did not provide paid legal advice. Zacharia also defended her first White House briefing, saying she had to hold it on Tuesday morning after receiving the material only a few hours beforehand, and she said, "I believe I rose to the occasion."

Reporting for this sectionABC20Minutos

Briefing and legal title

Zacharia told AP that she had been up since 3 a.m. preparing and said, "I never had a full briefing beforehand, and I went out and I effectuated the briefing," after her first briefing lasted 14 minutes. Zacharia said she was preparing to take the bar exam in California when she got married and was readying a move to China, and she said the results were "somewhat inconsequential" because she would not need to be a barred attorney while living in China.

Zacharia said she consulted several legal experts to ensure that title was accurate when offering legal analysis, and she said, "I never came across as someone who was an attorney-at-law." Zacharia told Real America's Voice that she consulted "many people in the field" about whether she could label herself "lawyer" and provide legal analysis, and she said the experts told her, "You can call yourself a lawyer, you have a JD" and international transactional experience.

Reporting for this sectionAP NewsABC

Trump ousts spokesperson

Donald Trump dismissed White House press secretary Katie Zacharia just one week after appointing her, according to advance publication by The New York Times citing three White House sources. Trump told reporters, "I asked her, 'Katie, is this for you?'" and he said, "she is a good person," while discussing how "the media have been very hard" on Zacharia.

The New York Times account said Zacharia was fired only three days after her first press briefing as White House press secretary, after she faced controversy over presenting herself as a lawyer despite failing the bar exam. Zacharia’s brief first press conference on Tuesday included a single announcement about the resignation of the U.S. ambassador to Greece, and she answered three questions while constantly looking at her notes.

Reporting for this sectionEl Nacional.cat