White House responds to scrutiny of Trump's press secretary Katie Zacharia being a 'lawyer' after complaint filed

The White House has responded after a watchdog group filed a complaint asking the California State Bar to investigate Press Secretary Katie Zacharia's claims that she is a lawyer.

The Campaign for Accountability, an ethics watchdog non-profit, submitted the complaint on Wednesday, according to Forbes.

According to the complaint, Zacharia said she was a lawyer in at least 18 TV appearances between February 2025 and October 2026.

"The repetition and breadth of these statements weigh heavily in favor of investigation," it says.

They also noted Zacharia states on her LinkedIn that she was General Counsel for non-profit Fix California from January 2024 to March 2025, adding: "It is not publicly known what legal work, if any, Ms. Zacharia performed in her role as General Counsel."

The complaint also cites California law, which treats holding yourself out as entitled to practice law without a license as a misdemeanour, the group asked the bar to refer Zacharia to prosecutors if it finds violation.

White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement posted to X: "This group that filed the 'complaint' is a radical leftist-organization run by rabid numbskulls suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Nobody takes them seriously, because they are deranged low lifes."

Cheung told UNILAD in a statement: "Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team. She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary."

A spokesperson for Pepperdine University told Snopes: "Katie graduated with a JD [Juris Doctor, a law degree] from Caruso School of Law in 2011, and with a bachelor of arts in political science from Seaver College in 2007."

The university explains on its website: "A Juris Doctor (JD) is the primary credential for those seeking to become practicing attorneys. JD programs also prepare graduates to pass the state bar exam, which is required to practice law."

So graduating with a JD is not the same as passing a state bar exam.

Snopes also said it has 'reviewed lawyer directories from the bar association and supreme courts of all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and found no evidence she had passed the bar examination in any of them'.

Asked on October 13 where she passed the bar exam, Zacharia appeared to say 'when I moved to China'.

A White House official said she moved there with her husband after graduating and worked on international law, but did not say whether she has passed the bar.

"I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials," Zacharia said later in a statement to AFP.

Could Katie Zacharia have worked as a lawyer in China without a license?

Zacharia's LinkedIn page says she was an associate on the International Practice Team at the Zhong Lun Law firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013.

Georgetown University law professor Mark Jia told USA TODAY that foreign nationals generally 'cannot qualify as Chinese lawyers'.

He said it is possible she did legal work there without a license, as the current rules postdated her time in Beijing.

"Unless she was admitted as a lawyer somewhere, the fact that she was allowed to do legal work at a Chinese law firm does not independently make her a lawyer," he said.

Meanwhile, University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor John Ohnesorge told Snopes: "There's no possibility that she passed the Chinese bar exam, ever.

"What she did in China was to work in an elite Chinese law firm on international business matters, and doing that kind of work does not really require being a member of a bar anywhere."