New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Defends Her Legal Background and Short First Briefing

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia defended her legal background and explained the shortness of her inaugural briefing, as she began her role as the president's chief spokeswoman amid a challenging first week. During an interview with the conservative Human Events outlet, she explained that she was pressed for time to fully prepare for her first briefing on Tuesday and that it was her goal to keep it brief, given that President Trump would respond to journalists' questions later that morning.

Zacharia revealed that she had only been given the initial briefing materials on Monday evening, completing them at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, just under two hours before she appeared before the White House press corps. She had been awake since 3 a.m. preparing for the briefing. When quizzed about her legal background, Zacharia stated that she was preparing to take the bar exam in California at the time, having recently married and planned to move to China to join her husband, who was working in private equity in Beijing.

She said her legal expertise was not relevant while living in China and that the bar exam results were inconsequential.

Zacharia, who had faced scrutiny for referring to herself as a "lawyer," consulted legal experts to ensure the title was accurate when offering legal analysis. She maintained that she never presented herself as an attorney-at-law and clarified that she would not be weighing in on legal matters in her White House role. Additionally, she provided details on how she secured the job as White House Press Secretary, stating that she did not lobby for the position and instead focused on understanding the president's interests through monitoring his social media posts.