Trump announced Katie Zacharia as White House press secretary on October 9 and described her as an “attorney.” She has publicly identified herself as a lawyer for years and shared posts calling her an attorney. The Wall Street Journal reported she sat for the California bar after graduating from Pepperdine in 2011 and did not pass. She confirmed Thursday that she took the exam once, failed, and never retook it. She said she was told it was acceptable to call herself a lawyer because she has a JD, but not an “attorney.” California law requires a license to hold oneself out as entitled to practice law. She is not licensed in any U.S. state.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/15/us/katie-zacharia-lawyer-attorney-bar.html
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