What we know about Katie Zacharia’s legal work in China

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia gave a surprising answer when asked on Tuesday where she passed the bar exam: “When I moved to China,” she told reporters. 

Whether Zacharia passed the bar exam at all is in growing doubt. A watchdog group filed a complaint Wednesday with the State Bar of California asking it to investigate whether she broke the law by claiming to practice law.

Zacharia received a law degree from Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in 2011, but the Popular Information newsletter reported that she is not licensed to practice law in the U.S. or Washington, D.C. 

The White House has not provided any evidence to prove otherwise. 

Zacharia’s LinkedIn says she was “general counsel” of Fix California — an organization started by Richard Grenell, a former Trump administration official — from January 2024 to March 2025 and that she was an “associate” on the International Practice Team for Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from August 2011 to June 2013. 

The Hill has reached out to both organizations for comment.

The White House said Zacharia moved to China with her husband after graduating law school and worked in international transaction law. She told NewsNation that she practiced “with all the appropriate credentials.”

Experts told The Hill that even if Zacharia worked at a law firm in China, that didn’t necessarily make her a lawyer. 

“I don’t believe that she could have taken the Chinese bar exam — American citizens are not, by rule, allowed to sit for it, and there’s no apparent reason to........

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