Welp, after three days of dodging, Katie Zacharia finally gave a straight answer, and she gave it on Sean Hannity’s couch.
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Late Thursday, the new White House press secretary sat down with the Fox News host, who asked whether she went to Pepperdine Law but never passed the bar exam. “Correct,” she said, smiling the whole way through. Asked if she ever tried again, she said she did not. That’s a long way from Tuesday, when reporters asked where she passed and she twice replied that it was when she moved to China.
She also said that once she landed in Beijing, “I didn’t really think much of the bar results.” Hannity wasn’t buying the runaround. He asked why she didn’t just say she took the bar once, didn’t pass, and moved on. Her reply was that she didn’t retake it after moving back to the United States.
Now the whole China answer never made sense. China doesn’t let noncitizens sit for its bar exam, and you can’t take a U.S. state bar over there either. By Wednesday, the receipts were stacking up. The Wall Street Journal reported she failed the California exam in 2011 and never passed in any other state she’s lived in. A senior administration official then confirmed to NBC News that she did not pass. Zacharia’s explanation was that she misheard the question over the noise of Marine One and didn’t want to step in front of the president.
Sean Hannity cuts his interview short with WH Press Secretary Katie Zacharia after she admits she’s unprepared: Hannity: What would you do differently next time? Katie Zacharia: I’d be more prepared. Very prepared, Sean. https://t.co/fsohXv3NDr— FactPost (@factpostnews) October 16, 2026
The word games are where it gets messy. The complaint filed with the California State Bar by watchdog group Campaign for Accountability cites at least 18 TV appearances where she allegedly called herself a lawyer. Hannity pressed her on that too, asking about her claim that people advised her it was okay to say “lawyer” but not “attorney.”
Under California law, unauthorized practice can carry up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both, though she hasn’t been charged with anything. The State Bar won’t say whether it’s investigating.
Now, failing the bar isn’t a crime, and plenty of sharp, successful people have bounced back from it. Nobody’s saying a press secretary has to be a licensed attorney. The issue is the branding. When your Instagram bio says lawyer, you’ve got a trust problem, and all that bobbing and weaving on a lawn in front of cameras made it worse. If the plan was to get ahead of the story, it took about three days longer than it needed to. Whether the California State Bar takes it any further is the next thing to watch. Whew!