Trump press secretary Katie Zacharia never passed bar exam, wrongly claims China has none

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has revealed she did not pass the California bar exam in 2011, despite claiming to have done so while working in China. In an interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec, Zacharia stated she took the exam after graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school but did not pass.

She claimed the results were "somewhat inconsequential" as she knew she wouldn’t need the bar in China, where she moved for her husband’s job. The National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination is required to practice as a lawyer in China, but only Chinese citizens can sit it, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Chinese law firms can hire foreigners, but they cannot be licensed as lawyers. Zacharia claimed there had been "a lot of misinformation" about her using the term "lawyer", and that "absolutely across the board you can call yourself a lawyer". She said she had consulted "many people in the field", without naming them. In another interview with the New York Times, Zacharia said she had been advised by Pepperdine’s president that she could call herself a "lawyer" but not an "attorney" or "esquire".

She also mentioned that President Donald Trump had referred to her as an attorney when announcing her appointment. However, the State Bar of California confirmed they had no record of Zacharia being licensed under her married name or maiden name, Black. It stated that it is unlawful for anyone not an active licensee or otherwise authorized to hold themselves out as practising or entitled to practice law in California.