Zacharia Says She Failed California Bar Exam

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia acknowledged that she took the California bar exam once after graduating from Pepperdine Law School in 2011 and failed, and that she never retook it. Her past descriptions of herself as a lawyer or attorney have drawn scrutiny; she initially told reporters she had passed a bar exam in China, then said she had misunderstood the question over Marine One’s noise. Zacharia has cited her law degree and legal analysis experience, including work at a Beijing law firm, and said people in the legal field advised her that calling herself a lawyer was acceptable, while some legal experts dispute that interpretation. She said administration officials never asked about the failed exam and emphasized that she was hired as press secretary, not White House counsel; the controversy has also prompted questions about the administration’s vetting. A watchdog group has asked California officials to investigate possible unauthorized practice of law, but Zacharia has not been charged.