Donald Trump’s New Press Secretary’s China Connection Is Raising Questions
October 13, 2026
By Rishabh Shandilya

Public records searches have yet to locate an attorney registration for Katie Zacharia in New York, Washington, California, Texas, or Florida. The findings have raised questions about Donald Trump’s new press secretary’s professional credentials, although they do not establish whether she passed a bar examination.

Katie Zacharia says she passed her exam in China
Katie Zacharia brought the subject up after her first official White House press briefing Tuesday. She told reporters that she passed a bar exam “when I moved to China” but did not identify where she took it or which jurisdiction, if any, admitted her to practice (via SCMP).

Journalist Judd Legum said his research turned up no record of Zacharia receiving authorization to practice in any U.S. state or Washington, D.C. Her résumé also points to a stint in China. Zacharia’s LinkedIn profile says she worked as an associate at Zhong Lun Law Firm between 2011 and 2013. But there is an important wrinkle: China’s 2011 rules for its national judicial examination required applicants to be Chinese citizens, meaning foreign nationals could not qualify.

Zacharia told NewsNation that she had worked as a lawyer with “all the appropriate credentials,” but stopped short of naming the jurisdiction where she obtained them. A White House representative told NBC News that she relocated to China after graduating from law school to accompany her husband, who worked for a U.S. private equity firm. During their time there, Zacharia handled international transactions before coming back to the United States.

Before joining the White House press team last week, Zacharia built a career spanning government communications and the private sector. The Pepperdine University law graduate previously represented the Department of Homeland Security as a spokeswoman and advised Trump Media & Technology Group on senior-level communications.

Neither the White House nor Zhong Lun Law Firm has clarified Zacharia’s legal credentials or confirmed the relevant details of her employment.
https://www.realitytea.com/202...charia-law-bar-exam/

how was this not known before she was named to the position?

and what is her connection to China? the fact that she lived there with her husband?

RealityTea is a laughably un-serious source on such subjects.

From their About Us web page: "RealityTea provides devoted reality TV fans with their daily cup of news, gossip, photos, and episode recaps about all of your favorite reality TV shows, cast members, and more – with a unique touch of humor."

About the author - "Rishabh Shandilya is an Entertainment and Pop Culture Writer at Evolve Media, where he covers stories spanning movies, television, comics, and broader cultural trends. His passion for cinema and storytelling has shaped his work since 2018, when he began exploring stories surrounding entertainment, pop culture and politics. Over the years, he has developed a particular interest in the conversations and trends driving popular culture. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Literature, which further informs his approach to storytelling and cultural analysis.

RealityTea is nothing but an internet 'tabloid', and based on every 'article' re:Trump, they are just as biased as you'd expect from any entertainment industry source, let alone one that focuses on tawdry tabloid topics. All of their 'news articles' are focused on subjects/individuals they classify as celebrities. They are quite clearly a Left Wing biased organization.

Regarding Trump's new Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, passing the Bar is NOT a prerequisite for the position. She relocated to China after graduating from law school to accompany her husband, who worked for a U.S. private equity firm. Apparently she did some 'legal work' while living there, handling international transactions as an 'associate' at Zhong Lun Law Firm. She has never worked as an attorney in the US either. The majority of her career in the US seems to be in communications. She has served as a 'Communications Advisor' for Trump Media Group, and most recently she was a 'spokeswoman' for the DHS. Again, NO 'Lawyering' activities were involved.

Nothing-Burger drummed up by the America Hating Left is all this is!

This looks like a non-story. The better question is whether she has the chops to follow in the footsteps of Karoline Levitt, which is a tall order. Based on her first few days on the job, she's got her work cut out for her.

Yeah, that’s absolute trash from Trump hating leftists. Can’t believe OP posted that shit here.

The activist media wants to pretend she has no credibility. The people with absolutely no credibility are our media who are busy campaigning as hard as they can for progressive candidates and causes.

Originally the "Hot Blond" look and the lived in China revolation got my suspions up.
I'm sure she will be thoughly vettted now if she was not before.
I'm willing to give her some slack and let her get experiance in the new job. A few months from now might be a good time to re evaluate her performance.

As said, she's got big shoes to fill! Let's give her a chance and hopefully she can prove herself and keep that friggin' MSM on their toes.

What if we say she is an undocumented attorney? Does she get a pass?

If she didn't pass the bar she should not have said she was an attorney. It's not about whether or not she needs to be an attorney to do the job, it's about personal credibility and how the story is now about her instead of the information she disseminating.

I get that she's new. But that was dumb. Karoline Leavitt did a great job and left big shoes to fill...hopefully this new person is up to the task, but this isn't a strong start.

Here's to hoping for more "Press Beatings"!

Hold on yall. She does have her JD. That means she can say she is a lawyer. It doesn't mean she is licensed but the JD gives her the right. I have a BS in accounting and so I can claim that I am a "degreed accountant". I can't claim CPA as I never took the exam. So, she can't practice law, but her JD does mean she is a lawyer.

quote:

If she didn't pass the bar she should not have said she was an attorney. It's not about whether or not she needs to be an attorney to do the job, it's about personal credibility and how the story is now about her instead of the information she disseminating.

Did she say she was an attorney?

quote:

She does have her JD. That means she can say she is a lawyer. It doesn't mean she is licensed but the JD gives her the right. I have a BS in accounting and so I can claim that I am a "degreed accountant". I can't claim CPA as I never took the exam. So, she can't practice law, but her JD does mean she is a lawyer.

Or a lawyer?

It does make a difference.
A lawyer graduated from law school. An attorney passed the bar exam and was admitted to practice in at least one state.

As an example: I graduated from law school in May. I could then claim to be a lawyer. I then passed the bar exam in Missouri in September and in Illinois the following February. When I took the oath and was sworn in by the MO Supreme Ct., I became an attorney.

It doesn't matter to her job if she's an attorney, unless she's lying about it. Telling the truth as a spokesperson is at the top of the list.

If she said she was an attorney, especially in the public eye, and she isn’t, she is a fracking idjut! Just because she’s on Trump’s team, it doesn’t give her a pass with me. Whatever comes out of her mouth will be even more discounted to those who oppose him.

His son having his wedding party paid for buy a Russian oligarch, wanting to purchase diesel from Russia, Guilfoyle’s appointment as Greece ambassador, the calling for Zelensky’s ouster, and now this… He’s tripping himself more and more, and things like a lying press secretary shouldn’t be added to the pot. The importance of the midterms can’t be overstated!

Chellim points out a difference between lawyer and attorney and he would know better than I. That being said, I didn't know there was a different meaning between the two words. I thought they were interchangeable synonyms. Ok, so let's say she did know the difference and used attorney instead of lawyer. To me, it's mild. It's not stolen valor, which is very serious. I feel like she should get a pass on the word. Now the rest of her biography, I have no idea about.

Why would anyone care if she passed the bar exam. It's a gotcha question from the media that wasn't even asked of Zacharia. She got the question through a game of telephone where the press screamed a question and Trump passed it along to her. I understand it's designed to attack her credibility but why give that to the activist children pretending to be journalist who make up our media. There is a reason that Trump would like to ban many of these activists from the WH press corp.

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:
If she said she was an attorney, especially in the public eye, and she isn’t, she is a fracking idjut! Just because she’s on Trump’s team, it doesn’t give her a pass with me. Whatever comes out of her mouth will be even more discounted to those who oppose him.

His son having his wedding party paid for buy a Russian oligarch, wanting to purchase diesel from Russia, Guilfoyle’s appointment as Greece ambassador, the calling for Zelensky’s ouster, and now this… He’s tripping himself more and more, and things like a lying press secretary shouldn’t be added to the pot. The importance of the midterms can’t be overstated!

You should have voted for Harris. Or did you? Me thinks you did.

She said she is a lawyer. Never once said she’s an attorney. Trump called her an attorney. People need to STFU and not fall for leftist shit.

^^ THIS Right Here!

Here's is the 'Gotcha Question' causing all the scuttlebutt that was asked when Trump was being peppered by 'reporters' during a Press Availability with Marine One spooled up in the background. You can't even hear everything she said when she responded to the question, which suits the adversarial Left-Wing media just fine, providing cover for them to speculate (report?) about the response in an effort to discredit her. For this, there are TDS afflicted America hating Left-Wing Democrat activists in California, a.k.a. members of the CA Bar Association, that want to bring criminal charges against Katie Zacharia in this matter!