Katie Zacharia Responds to Claims She Lied About Being a Lawyer
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia addressed a growing controversy Thursday after media outlets questioned how she described her legal background. Critics have claimed she lied about being an “attorney,” but Zacharia says she was careful to describe herself as a lawyer rather than a licensed attorney.
The controversy surfaced shortly after her first press briefing on Tuesday. CNN published the headline, “Katie Zacharia presented herself as a lawyer. She’s not.” Other outlets followed with similar claims. However, the source report said it had not found evidence that Zacharia ever presented herself as a practicing attorney.
The dispute largely turns on the difference between the words “lawyer” and “attorney.” The report describes lawyer as a broader term for someone who studied law and earned a Juris Doctor degree, or JD. An attorney is generally a lawyer who has passed the bar exam and is licensed to practice law. Zacharia argues that the media has turned that distinction into a scandal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Zacharia sat for the bar exam in 2011 but did not pass. The report said she was also planning a wedding and a move to China with her soon-to-be husband at the time. CNN reported that Zacharia said she had “practiced international transactional law, with all the appropriate credentials.”
She also told The New York Times that she consulted with Pepperdine’s president about how to describe herself. She said she was advised not to use “attorney” or “esquire,” but that “lawyer” was acceptable.
During a Thursday interview with Real America’s Voice host Jack Posobiec, Zacharia explained the advice she received.
“I consulted, for a very long time, many people in the field: Is it okay and acceptable if I label myself lawyer, not attorney at law, not Katie Zachariah Esquire, but lawyer, and provide legal analysis, not legal advice?”
She continued, “And they said absolutely across the board. You can call yourself a lawyer. You have a JD, and to buffer that, you have international legal experience in transactional law, which gives you the ability to analyze it, not necessarily give advice, and so that’s where a lot of this discussion has come from,”
Zacharia rejected the idea that she was trying to mislead anyone or claim a license she did not have.
“It’s unfortunate that people dub this as some kind of conspiracy or want to put me in a camp. The truth is, I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law.”
Her explanation makes clear that she sees her background as useful for legal analysis, but not as permission to provide legal advice. She also drew a firm line between her communications role and the work performed by White House counsel.
Asked whether she would weigh in on legal matters in the White House or provide legal consultation to President Trump, Zacharia responded, “No, no. For the press secretary, my job is to amplify and communicate his message and to interact with the press and build relationships and strengthen relationships and communicate clearly the message of the administration, and I only intend to do that.”
She added, “I’m not being hired as White House counsel, and that’s the long and the short of that.”
The controversy now centers on whether using the word “lawyer” was misleading or whether it accurately described Zacharia’s education and international transactional-law experience. Zacharia says she sought guidance before using the term and deliberately avoided calling herself an attorney at law or “Esquire.”
The full interview is available below.