White House backs Katie Zacharia as credentials face test

President Trump’s choice of Katie Zacharia as press secretary puts her legal credentials under scrutiny after he described her as an attorney.

The White House says her assignment does not involve legal work, while Zacharia has defended her qualifications for her previous employment in China. The dispute centers on the distinction between completing legal education, performing transaction-related work and holding a license to practice.

White House defends Zacharia’s appointment

White House spokesman Steven Cheung endorsed Zacharia’s suitability for the communications position. “Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” he said, while a separate White House official said Trump had not recruited her for legal duties.

Asked which state’s licensing examination she had passed, Zacharia answered, “When I moved to China,” without offering further details. She separately stated: “I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.”

A person described as having firsthand knowledge said Zacharia did not pass California’s licensing examination after completing her Pepperdine University law degree in 2011. That person said she had already passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, which tests knowledge of professional ethics.

Beijing work involved cross-border agreements

Zacharia relocated to Beijing during the summer following graduation and joined Zhong Lun Law Firm. According to someone familiar with her employment, her responsibilities included preparing agreements for international transactions and communicating with US and multinational business clients operating in China.

That person described her position as international legal consulting, saying Chinese attorney licensing was not required for the division’s work. The person also said US admission was not relevant to those duties because Chinese partners supplied the legal opinions.

The account distinguishes the work Zacharia performed from the question of whether she held a US license. It does not identify an American jurisdiction where she gained admission, and her statement about appropriate credentials did not specify one.

During a February 2025 radio interview with Buck Sexton, Zacharia said her China-based work included serving as outside counsel for the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. Those descriptions of her institutional clients remain her account; the supplied material contains no confirmation from either institution.

Legal education differs from bar admission

US licensing generally involves more than graduating from law school: examination requirements, ethics testing and character assessments also form part of the process. Rules governing who may publicly describe themselves as a lawyer vary by jurisdiction, so a degree and professional experience do not alone resolve the licensing question.

Robert Pushaw, a Pepperdine law professor who taught Zacharia, called her “a good law student and a genuinely good person.” He nevertheless could not determine whether she technically met the definition of an attorney and noted that respected legal academics do not always hold that status.

Roger Alford, now a professor at the University of Notre Dame, employed Zacharia as a law-school research assistant and remembered her as “a star at Pepperdine.” Those academic endorsements address her performance and character, rather than establish professional admission.

The unresolved issue is which qualification supports the attorney designation Trump used. If Zacharia identifies a licensing jurisdiction or provides further details about her consulting credentials, that would help distinguish her professional status from the duties the White House says she will perform.