White House Press Secretary Zaharia Has Not Passed the Bar Exam Despite Being Described as a Lawyer
Karoline-style scrutiny has fallen on Katie Zaharia, the new White House press secretary under US President Donald Trump, after it emerged she never passed a US bar exam although she was billed as a lawyer. She stresses she was hired as press secretary, not as legal counsel.
Katie Zaharia, the new White House press secretary in the United States, has landed in an awkward position after questions about her professional credentials revealed that she has not passed a US bar exam, even though she has long been described as a lawyer. Foreign media, including the news agency AFP, reported on 16 October 2026. The matter touches the credibility of President Donald Trump's team, since Trump himself called her a lawyer when announcing her appointment.
What is known about Zaharia
Zaharia previously worked for the television channel Fox News and other conservative media outlets, where she was often introduced as an attorney. She graduated from the law school of Pepperdine University and worked in China after her studies. She has still not passed a US bar exam.
Conflicting explanations
Asked where she had passed the exam, Zaharia first replied that it was in China. That caused confusion, because the US bar exam cannot be taken there. She later explained that she had misunderstood the question and had in fact not taken the exam, as it was not needed for her work in China.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday, a journalist asked whether she regretted not telling Trump before taking office that she had not passed the bar exam. Zaharia answered that nobody had asked her about it. She stressed that she was hired as White House press secretary, not as legal counsel, and that her job is to represent the president in dealings with the media.
Why it matters
The central question is not whether Zaharia has a legal education, but whether she created a misleading impression of her professional qualifications. In the United States, graduating from law school is not enough to practice as a lawyer: a person generally has to pass the bar exam of the relevant state and meet other requirements.
Zaharia, for her part, says she had the necessary qualifications to work in international transactional law and that her experience in China was appropriate.
