White House press secretary Katie Zacharia failed the bar exam, can she call herself a lawyer? The Controversy Explained | Today’s news

New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, who faced scrutiny of her legal career before becoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s top spokeswoman, said Thursday that she failed the bar exam.

Zacharia, who entered the White House on Monday, previously said she practiced law before entering politics. President Donald Trump called her a “lawyer” last week in a social media post announcing her role in his administration.

“You didn’t take the bar exam, did you?” she was asked in an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” late Thursday.

“Right,” she replied to the host. She said he graduated from Pepperdine and got married the same week.

“The column results are somewhat unimportant because…”

She said she had “every intention of moving to China”. Zacharia clarified in her Thursday interview. She said the bar exam results were “somewhat meaningless” because she knew she would then move to China, where she worked in international transactional law.

“I’ll take the bar and see what happens,” Zacharia said of her mindset at the time. She added: “The results are kind of meaningless because I knew I wasn’t going to need the bar in China, and – and we left shortly after that. And after moving to China, I think – I didn’t think – I didn’t really think much about bar results and I didn’t think of it as something I needed to focus on, and I was offered a job in – in the international practice division of – a Chinese law firm.”

When Zacharia was asked if she had taken the bar exam a second time, she said, “No, Sean.”

Her comment came amid an investigation into whether Zacharia passed the bar after Popular Information reported earlier this week that there was no evidence she was licensed to practice law. There was also a Wall Street Journal report that Zacharia sat at a bar in 2011 but didn’t pass.

Can Zacharia call herself a lawyer?

Zacharia earned her law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011, according to the university, Reuters reported.

Zacharia took the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine Caruso Law School but failed, sources told ABC news.

Almost all licensed U.S. attorneys first obtain a law degree, but law school graduates cannot legally practice law in the U.S. without first being admitted to a state bar.

According to Fox News, Katie Zacharia said she never retook the bar exam, but claims she had a legitimate reason to call herself a lawyer during TV appearances.

The Pepperdine law graduate told the media that she consulted with attorneys before using the title “lawyer,” citing her law degree and prior legal experience.

Zacharia said she does not practice law or get paid to provide legal advice, and insisted that her television appearances focused on general analysis of legal matters.

“For a long time, I consulted with a lot of people in the industry: ‘Is it OK and acceptable to refer to myself as a ‘lawyer,’ not an ‘advocate,’ not ‘Katie Zacharia, Esquire,’ but a ‘lawyer,’ and I provide legal analysis, not legal advice?,’ and they said ‘absolutely, absolutely,’ overboard. ‘You can call yourself JD Lawyer, Lawyer, Lawyer, you have international experience in legal transactions. Which gives you the ability to do that to analyze, not necessarily to give advice,” Zacharia told Real America’s Voice.

She answered questions from only three reporters during her first briefing on Tuesday before closing the event in less than 15 minutes.

Her performance was criticized by some media commentators and political analysts, although Trump told reporters, “I thought she was very good.”

When Hannity was asked about her performance, she said, “What I feel is that I really stepped up to the plate to do a press conference, Sean, with very little lead time.”