Failed the bar exam, presented as a lawyer: the storm at the White House

Katie Zakaria, the new White House press secretary, admitted in a Fox News interview that she failed the bar exam and never retook it. She based her defense on the verbal distinction between 'attorney' and 'licensed lawyer', claiming she consulted with officials who approved her presentation. Zakaria attributed the failure to personal circumstances and described her rapid recruitment process for the role.

Katie Zakaria, the new White House press secretary under President Donald Trump, admitted in a Fox News interview that she failed the bar exam and never retook it. The admission raises questions about her previous portrayal as a lawyer in the media. Zakaria based her defense on the verbal distinction in English between 'attorney' and 'licensed lawyer', claiming she consulted with officials, including the president of Pepperdine University, who approved her presentation. She explained the failure by personal circumstances: graduating and getting married in the same week, and planning to move to China. According to her, she worked at a law firm in China handling international transactions, and after returning to the US, she had four children in six years. Zakaria also addressed her brief debut briefing, which lasted only a few minutes and included just three questions, attributing it to the rapid hiring process: she received the call from Trump last Wednesday, flew to Washington on Thursday, got the job on Friday, and reported to the office on Monday, despite it being a federal holiday. She said she intentionally shortened the briefing out of consideration for the president. The article does not include an official response from the White House or an independent professional source.