New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia claims to have passed bar in China

Kate Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, has already faced blowback for her first press briefing on Tuesday. Now, she faces additional scrutiny over her apparent claim that she passed the bar exam in China.After Tuesday’s briefing, Zacharia appeared just outside the White House with President Donald Trump. In response to a question about which state she passed the bar in, Zacharia said: “When I moved to China.”Zacharia has presented herself as a lawyer on social media, and has been described as a lawyer by in communications from the federal government. But the veracity of Zacharia’s claims remain unclear. Independent journalist Judd Legum, who writes the newsletter Popular Information, reported having searched for evidence that Zacharia was admitted to practice law in any of the 50 states, or in Washington, D.C. to no avail.Related: Trump’s new press secretary gushes over him, calling her husband ‘my president’ in shaky first briefingState governments set their own laws around eligibility to practice law within their court systems. While Pepperdine University has confirmed that Zacharia graduated from its law school in 2011, there is no record she ever passed the bar exam in California, according to USA Today.“I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” Zacharia said later in a statement, according to USA Today.Related: Failed anti-LGBTQ+ immigrant MAGA influencer banned from Texas Republican Party eventsTuesday’s press briefing marked Zacharia’s first time standing before the White House press pool, but her performance was widely panned online. Zacharia took the role after outgoing Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped down on Aug. 27.The relationship between the White House and major news outlets has visibly frayed in Trump’s second term.At different times, including a recent spat over coverage of the Iran war, Trump has banned the Associated Press, MS Now, CNN and Politico from the White