USAupdated 2h ago2 min read
US Watchdog Files California Bar Complaint Against White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia
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A watchdog filed a complaint with the California State Bar over Zacharia’s lawyer claims. Reports question whether she is licensed to practice law in any U.S. state.
Bar complaint and a quote
A US watchdog group filed a complaint with the State Bar of California seeking an investigation into White House press secretary Katie Zacharia after reporters questioned whether she was licensed to practice law. Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “The State Bar should investigate whether Ms Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has,” and the complaint argued that repeatedly holding herself out as entitled to practice law without a license is treated as a crime in California.
“The State Bar should investigate whether Ms Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has.”
Zacharia responded in a statement by saying, “I practice international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” while journalists reported that no record showed her being licensed to practise law in any US state. Zacharia also answered a question about where she had passed the bar exam with “When I moved to China,” after her first day in the job included an inconclusive answer about the bar exam location.
What the bar records show
The California state bar confirmed to media that it had no record of Zacharia holding a licence under either her married or maiden name, and the complaint focused on her repeated use of “lawyer” and “attorney” in public roles. A California state bar spokesperson said, “The State Bar of California has no record of Kate Sharon Zacharia or Kate Sharon Black (or Katie in both instances) having been licensed to practice law in California,” and the spokesperson added that confidentiality laws limited what the bar could confirm.
The Guardian reported that Zacharia replied “when I moved to China” when asked to name the state where she passed the bar exam, and the outlet said no public record showed she had ever been licensed to practise law in US states where she resided. The Guardian also reported that the Wall Street Journal, citing a person with direct knowledge, said Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine University law school in 2011 but did not pass.
White House defense and fallout
The White House defended Zacharia after the complaint, with communications director Steven Cheung attacking the watchdog group and saying, “Nobody takes them seriously because they are deranged low lifes.” The Hill reported that Cheung called Campaign for Accountability a “radical leftist-organization run by rabid numbskulls suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and the White House referred the outlet to Cheung’s social media post when asked for comment.
Dawn reported that Zacharia’s first day included a faltering first day in the job when she gave an inconclusive answer about where she had passed the bar exam, and it said she replied “When I moved to China” without identifying any jurisdiction where she was licensed. The controversy followed Zacharia succeeding Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August after becoming one of the most prominent public defenders of Trump’s second administration, and it unfolded as reporters asked the president which state Zacharia had passed the bar exam in.