Complaint filed in California over White House spokeswoman’s status as a lawyer — CBC World
In the United States, the public interest organization Campaign for Accountability (CfA) has filed a complaint with the State Bar of California, demanding that it determine whether White House spokeswoman Katie Zacharia may have improperly presented herself as a lawyer. In its appeal, the organization cited the absence of her name from the public registry of licensed attorneys in the state.
As CBC World reports, State Bar of California spokesperson Rick Coca said that the agency has no licensing records for Kate Sharon Zacharia or Kate Sharon Black — variants of her current and maiden names. Popular Information also said it found no information about her license in any U.S. state or in Washington, D.C.
The White House’s position
Zacharia had long called herself a lawyer, including in the description of her Instagram account. After journalists raised questions, the White House provided her statement, in which she said that she earned a bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University in 2007 and a law degree from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in 2011.
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In her statement, Zacharia said that she practiced international transactional law and had the relevant documents to do so. White House communications director Steven Cheung called her qualified for the position of spokeswoman.
Career information
According to her LinkedIn profile, Zacharia worked in the international practice of the Beijing law firm Zhong Lun Law Firm from 2011 to 2013. Since June, she has been a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, and previously held the position of deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for two months.
In China, only citizens of the country may take the National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination. The State Bar of California declined to confirm whether it had received CfA’s complaint and whether it was conducting a review, citing confidentiality rules.
