Katie Zacharia's legal credentials under scrutiny by White House press secretary

Katie Zacharia has repeatedly claimed to be a lawyer, but critics are asking whether she has ever been licensed.

Kitty Zacharias, Donald Trump's new White House press secretary, has come under increasing criticism over allegations about her professional background.

On Wednesday, a nonprofit public accountability organization filed a complaint with the State Bar of California over Zakaria's repeated claims that he was a lawyer.

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End of list If falsely made, such a claim is a felony in the state. According to Zacharia's LinkedIn profile, he received a degree from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in 2011, but critics have questioned whether he was licensed to practice law, as he has suggested.

"Ms. Zakaria has repeatedly defended herself as a lawyer to support her credentials as a television legal commentator and now as White House spokesperson," Michelle Coopersmith, president of the Washington-based Campaign for Accountability, said in a statement. "Yet it all seems to have been a lie."

His organization filed the complaint with the California Bar Office, a regulatory agency that oversees the licensing of lawyers.

"In California, calling yourself an unlicensed attorney is not bullshit," Coppersmith said. This is a crime.

State attorneys should investigate whether Ms. Zakaria has misled this court or publicize her credentials and, if she has, hold her accountable."

At a news conference that day, he appeared to limp and speak slurred, sometimes having to repeat himself.

His appearance was short and lasted less than 15 minutes. He spent most of his time at the podium thanking Trump for the opportunity and reading a prepared statement.

"I've been wanting to work for him for a long time," Zakaria said.

He later joined Trump outside the White House to talk more with reporters. When asked where he passed the bar exam, Zakaria replied, "When I moved to China."

The answer was an apparent reference to a three-year period in which he claims to have worked at a law firm in Beijing.

A biography on the website of Trumpettes USA Inc, a pro-Trump women's organization, says she served "as an external consultant" to the World Bank and International Finance Corporation while in Beijing.

Meanwhile, his LinkedIn profile shows that Zakaria served as an associate at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. Most recently, it listed him as general counsel for Fix California, a voter rights group launched by a Trump administration official, from 2024 to 2025.

In her Instagram profile, Zakharia describes herself as a "wife, mother and lawyer".

But Zakaria's statement that he has won points in China has fueled media scrutiny. China's equivalent of the bar exam, the extremely difficult national integrated legal professional qualification exam, can only be taken by Chinese citizens.

In rare cases, China has allowed foreigners to practice law in the country if they first have several years of experience in their home country.

But that doesn't seem to be the case for Zechariah. According to media reports, Zakaria is not licensed to practice law in any state in the United States.

Since Trump's return to the presidency for a second term, Zakaria has spent several months as a communications adviser at the Department of Homeland Security.

Since June, he has also worked as a senior communications adviser at the Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the platform Truth Social.