The White House is facing questions over Katie Zacharia’s legal background after Donald Trump named her press secretary and described her as an attorney.
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01Summary
- 01Trump announced Katie Zacharia as press secretary last week and called her an attorney, while she has also referred to herself as a lawyer.
- 02Asked on Tuesday where she passed the bar exam, Zacharia said: "When I moved to China," later calling it a misunderstanding.
- 03A watchdog group filed a complaint with the California State Bar on Wednesday, seeking an investigation into whether she held herself out as entitled to practise law without a licence.
- 04Pepperdine University confirmed the 42-year-old graduated from its law school in California in 2011, but she does not appear to be registered to the bar in any state where she has lived.
- 05Zacharia told the New York Times she was advised by Pepperdine’s president that she could call herself a lawyer, but not an attorney.
02Why it matters
The row raises questions about the qualifications of a senior White House communicator and could affect public trust in the administration’s vetting. It has also triggered a formal complaint that could lead to further scrutiny of her past work.
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