Watchdog Challenges White House Press Secretary’s Legal Credentials

While Zacharia earned a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2011, the watchdog group asserts that a degree alone does not grant the right to practice law. When pressed by reporters during her debut briefing Tuesday regarding where she passed the bar, Zacharia claimed she became an attorney after moving to China. The complaint notes that China does not permit foreign nationals to sit for its national bar exam or practice local law, adding that even if she had, such credentials would not authorize her to represent herself as a lawyer in the United States.

The White House has not directly addressed the discrepancy, instead referring inquiries to President Trump’s social media post, which identified Zacharia as an attorney. Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, argued that the press secretary leveraged these claims to build her credibility as a television legal commentator and now as a government spokesperson. Under Section 6126(a) of the California Business and Professions Code, falsely claiming to be licensed to practice law is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail or a $1,000 fine.