Katie Zakaria's first week at work was not easy at all.
Her first press briefing as the new White House Press Secretary lasted for about 14 minutes, during which she answered only 3 questions. Subsequently, the outside world began to examine her legal professional background.
On Thursday, Zakaria appeared on the Fox News program “Hannity”. This program is generally considered to be relatively friendly towards the Trump administration. During the show, she stated that she had “done her best” during her first appearance and responded to the criticisms surrounding her legal career experience.
"My feeling is that, Sean, I was indeed entrusted with this press conference under urgent circumstances, with almost no time to prepare," Zakaria told host Sean Hannity.
Zakaria stated that she had been in office for “probably less than 8 hours” and it was not until Tuesday morning – which was also the day of the press conference – that she received the briefing materials.
She also responded to criticism from the outside world that she only accepted questions from conservative media, stating that she chose to answer questions from The Daily Mail, which “is not known for being a conservative media outlet and is not particularly friendly to conservatives.”
Zakaria said that he "probably should have stepped aside after introducing himself" instead of continuing to answer questions.
Subsequently, Hanny asked about Zachariah's legal background.
She confirmed that she had taken the bar exam, but did not pass it, and she did not retake it again.
Zakaria said that the week she graduated from Pepperdine University happened to be the same week she got married, and she planned to move to China. However, she had already registered for this exam beforehand.
"The results of the bar exam are not that important. The reason I took it is because I didn't want to have a record of failing the exam," she said.
During her time in China, she found a job in the international business department of a Chinese law firm, where she was involved in cross-border transactions and shareholder agreements worth millions of dollars.
Zakaria also confirmed that she had consulted legal professionals regarding whether she could claim to be a lawyer, as she “holds a valid Doctor of Laws degree from an excellent law school.”
"I think those were just forwards, and I later clarified the facts, stating that this did not mean I endorsed that title. Those were just titles given by others that I forwarded," said Zachariah.
An examination in the context of its legal background
In the past week, there has been an increasing amount of skepticism from the outside world regarding Zachariah's legal qualifications.
On Wednesday, two watchdog organizations filed complaints with the California State Bar, requesting an investigation into whether Zacharia violated state laws by claiming to be a lawyer.
Her work experience in China has also drawn further attention to her legal qualifications from the outside world.
Chinese legal experts told Business Insider that only Chinese citizens are eligible to take the Chinese bar examination. Foreign employees in international law firms may participate in certain transactions without passing this examination, but their scope of responsibilities is limited.
