White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirms she failed bar exam
publishers 20articles 20first reported 15 Oct, 03:15 UTCdeveloping since 15 Oct · 8 editions
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirmed Thursday that she did not pass the bar exam, following scrutiny over descriptions of her as a lawyer or attorney.
Asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity whether she had failed the exam, Zacharia replied, “Correct.” She also said she did not take it a second time. Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2011, but the State Bar of California told CNN it had no record of her being licensed to practice law in the state.
CNN reported that Zacharia shared at least 15 social media posts between April 2025 and September 2026 that identified her as an “attorney,” including headlines and television segments from other outlets. At least one was later deleted. A source familiar with her thinking told CNN that sharing those posts was not intended as an endorsement of the title.
Zacharia has defended referring to herself as a lawyer, saying she sought advice on how to describe her qualifications and was told she could use “lawyer” because she holds a law degree, but not “attorney” or “esquire.” She told Real America’s Voice that she had international transactional-law experience but was not presenting herself as qualified to give legal advice.
The issue arose during Zacharia’s first week as President Donald Trump’s press secretary. Trump had previously described her as an attorney.
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Written from 8 articles, 3 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 30 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
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- Given to the writer
- 8, 3 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
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- This version written
- 30 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
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WHAT THE EDITOR DID
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