MURKY

Trump’s New Mouthpiece Cornered on Mysterious Legal Credentials

Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, proclaims to be a lawyer, but she does not appear to actually be licensed to practice law in any U.S. state.

White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia is facing questions about a major part of her career background.

Zacharia, 41, was pressed by reporters after her first briefing Tuesday to say where she passed the bar exam, amid questions about her claim to be an attorney.

She did not appear to name a state, instead saying she passed it “when I moved to China.”

Zacharia has long claimed to be an attorney, calling herself such on LinkedIn and having Fox News and other cable news channels use that as her title. But she does not appear to be actually licensed to practice law in any U.S. state.

There is no evidence that Zacharia has ever passed a bar exam or has been admitted to the bar in any state, independent outlet, Popular Information, found.

More concerningly, there is no evidence showing she is licensed in the state she claims to practice in: California. A review conducted by the Daily Beast also found that Zacharia has not passed the bar in California.

She is a graduate of Pepperdine University’s law school, which the school touted on its social media upon Zacharia getting her new role.

She claims on her LinkedIn to have worked as “General Counsel” for Fix California, a right-wing nonprofit organization founded by Trump ally Ric Grenell. Her resume indicates that she was in that role for just over a year, from January 2024 to March 2025.

Zacharia is also not listed as a member of the State Bar of Texas or as a member of the D.C. Bar, two other places where she claims to have worked as an attorney.

Play Video

Long before her MAGA transformation, Zacharia lived in Beijing, China, from 2011 to 2013, with her husband, Tyler.

While there, she worked as a corporate lawyer at Compassion for Migrant Children, according to her LinkedIn. The organization describes itself as “a collaborative effort to provide a framework within which organizations, individuals, and companies can express their care for children of migrant workers.”

Her work in China does not establish whether she passed a U.S. bar exam or was admitted to practice in any state.

When reached for comment, the White House did not deny that Zacharia has never passed the bar, offering instead a canned statement from communications director Steven Chueng calling her a “fabulous and wonderful addition to the team.”

Even before her new White House gig, Zacharia was a frequent face to viewers of Fox News and the far-right Newsmax, although she was not on the payroll of either channel.

Earlier this year, she had referred to herself on her X account as a Fox News commentator, as well as in an op-ed she wrote and published in the New York Post, but Fox had previously disputed that she was employed by the outlet.

Her ever-changing bio on her social media seems to enhance certain parts of her supposed career.

In September 2025, Zacharia changed her X bio to “Fox News & Newsmax Analyst General Counsel to Fix California | Lawyer | Political Strategist | Former OPA,” according to an archive of her account.

She then dropped that legal title from her X bio in November 2025 but put it back in April 2026, according to an archive of Zacharia’s X bio on May 1, 2026, which reads: “Fox News, CNN, Newsmax, & OANN et al. Commentator | General Counsel, Fix California | Lawyer | Fmr. Department of Homeland Security Spokeswoman | Sicilian.”

She’s also expressed her belief in some questionable legal theories. Last year, she called for the U.S. to “suspend habeus corpus” to deal with illegal immigration.

Additionally, Zacharia appears to heavily believe in conspiracy theories, even more so than other MAGA figures within the Trump administration.

She has posted online that Democrats are all pedophiles, shown support for the so-called Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracy theories, and expressed beliefs that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. In 2022, she reposted a crazed post reading: “Democrats want to mask and rape your children. That’s their satanic platform.”

She gave her first press briefing on Tuesday, but it got off to a rocky start.

She took only three questions, all of which were from conservative outlets: Breitbart, Fox, and the Daily Mail. The questions were also softball questions, like a question about how she plans to balance her new role and make time for her children.

“The idea of not spending evenings with my kid, kids are completely unacceptable, so my president, err excuse me, my husband, that’s a good one, my husband is out here, is out here for the week,” she said, laughing awkwardly.

Some White House officials already believe that she may be on the fritz after the poor performance at the podium.

One White House official told MS NOW of her performance: “Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better, fast. Otherwise, she’ll break Scaramucci’s record.”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Annabella RosciglioneReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.