Trump’s new press secretary says it’s ‘unknown’ how much she’ll deal with media
Katie Zacharia tells Guardian her first, widely panned, press briefing followed whirlwind sprint to appoint her to key role Donald Trump’s new White House press secretary says it is “unknown” how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings with reporters, as she faces mounting questions over her legal credentials. In a brief interview with the Guardian on Thursday, Katie Zacharia detailed the whirlwind…
Key points
- Katie Zacharia became White House press secretary six days after a call from the White House.
- She said it is unknown how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings.
- Zacharia faces scrutiny over her legal credentials and failed California bar exam.
Donald Trump's new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, has said it is "unknown" how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings with reporters. In a brief interview with the Guardian on Thursday, Zacharia described the rapid process that led to her replacing Karoline Leavitt as the president's chief spokesperson.
Zacharia received a call from a White House official on 7 October and traveled from Los Angeles to Washington the next day. She met officials on Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday, was offered the job later that day and accepted. She returned to Washington on Sunday ahead of her first day on Monday.
First briefing criticized
Zacharia's first briefing, which she said she was "asked to do" on her second day in the job, was widely panned as lackluster. After the briefing on Tuesday, reporters asked her to name the state where she passed the bar exam. She replied: "When I moved to China."
She later told the New York Times she had "misheard" the question over the sound of Marine One and thought the reporter asked where she was after law school. She did not confirm to the Times whether she had passed the bar exam.
I flew home, packed two bags, said hi to my kids and husband and dogs
— Katie Zacharia
Legal credentials questioned
The Wall Street Journal reported this week, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Zacharia failed the California bar exam after graduating from law school. The State Bar of California told the Guardian it had no record of Zacharia being licensed in the state under either her married name or her maiden name, Katie Black.
In an interview with Human Events on Thursday, Zacharia acknowledged to Jack Posobiec that she didn't pass the California bar. A person familiar with the matter said she "stands by" calling herself a lawyer, considering it a "valid title" given her law degree and "international transactional law experience." On Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability asked the State Bar of California to investigate whether she misled the public.
