2026年10月15日 / 美国东部时间下午3:28 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯——白宫新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚周四表示，她从未通过律师资格考试，尽管她曾自称律师，且特朗普总统也曾将她称为律师。
此前《华尔街日报》报道称，扎卡里亚于2011年未能通过加利福尼亚州律师资格考试，且在她居住过的其他任何美国州都未通过律师资格考试。扎卡里亚随后在与保守派评论员杰克·波索比克的采访中作出了上述表态。扎卡里亚毕业于佩珀代因大学法学院。
扎卡里亚告诉波索比克，她参加了加利福尼亚州的律师资格考试但未通过，称同期她正忙于结婚计划并随丈夫前往中国工作，因此分心。她表示自己“没太在意”考试结果，还称在中国工作时不需要通过考试就能开展工作。
扎卡里亚还表示，她从未将自己描述为“执业律师”，并称“我自称律师这件事存在很多错误信息”。她表示自己曾咨询过多位专家。
“我非常在意自己的表述方式，从未表现出自己是执业律师的样子，”扎卡里亚说道。
本周早些时候，特朗普总统启程前往阿拉斯加期间，有记者问她是否通过了律师资格考试，扎卡里亚回答“我去过中国”，这引发了外界对其法律背景的质疑。
一位白宫官员表示，扎卡里亚拥有佩珀代因大学颁发的法学博士学位，该校已向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻证实了这一点。这位白宫官员称，扎卡里亚随后随丈夫前往中国，丈夫在一家美国私募股权公司工作，而她则从事国际交易法律相关工作。
扎卡里亚周四在发给哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的一份声明中表示，她“凭借所有适当的资质从事国际交易法律工作”，但目前尚不清楚她所指的资质是什么。在中国，只有中国公民才能参加律师资格考试。
今年4月在福克斯新闻节目中，扎卡里亚曾称自己“作为企业律师在北京生活了三年”。
扎卡里亚的Instagram个人简介也标注她是一名律师。在Truth Social平台上，特朗普先生称她是“佩珀代因大学及佩珀代因卡鲁索法学院的优秀毕业生，一名律师”。
扎卡里亚的Instagram个人简介也标注她是一名律师。凯蒂·扎卡里亚个人Instagram截图
但她能否自称律师或法律从业者一事存在争议——扎卡里亚本人也考虑过这个问题。她告诉《纽约时报》，在开始亮相有线电视新闻节目之前，她曾与佩珀代因大学校长讨论过该如何介绍自己。《纽约时报》称，“她表示自己被警告不要使用‘律师’或‘ Esq.’（律师尊称）字样，但‘lawyer’（律师）一词是可以使用的。”
白宫方面表示，扎卡里亚“完全胜任”白宫新闻秘书一职。
“凯蒂是团队中出色且优秀的一员，”白宫通讯主任史蒂文·张在发给哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的一份声明中说道。“她完全胜任这份工作，聪明睿智，能够帮助美国民众了解特朗普总统及其政府正在推进的所有重要举措，她将以新闻秘书的身份出色完成任务。”
周三，自由派非营利监督组织“问责运动”向加利福尼亚州律师协会提起投诉，质疑扎卡里亚在未通过律师资格考试的情况下自称律师是否违反了加利福尼亚州法律。在成为白宫新闻秘书之前，她一直与家人居住在加利福尼亚州。
“问责运动”援引了《加利福尼亚州商业和职业法典》第6126条，该条款规定：“任何宣传、自称从事法律执业或有资格从事法律执业，或以其他方式从事法律执业的人，若在实施相关行为时并非加州律师协会的有效持证人，亦未依法或依法院规则获得在本州执业的授权，则构成轻罪。”
“扎卡里亚女士多次自称律师，以巩固自己作为电视法律评论员乃至如今白宫发言人的声誉和公信力，但这似乎全都是谎言，”“问责运动”执行主任米歇尔·库珀史密斯在一份声明中说道。“在加利福尼亚州，无执照自称律师并非夸大其词，而是犯罪行为。州律师协会应当调查扎卡里亚女士是否误导公众关于其资质的情况，并在她确实存在误导行为时追究其责任。”
史蒂文·张抨击了这个偏向左翼的道德监督团体。
“提起‘投诉’的这个组织是由患有严重特朗普仇恨综合征的狂热白痴运营的激进左翼组织，”史蒂文·张在X平台上发帖称。“没人会认真对待他们，因为他们都是精神错乱的卑鄙小人。”
斯坦福法学院法学教授诺拉·弗里曼·恩斯特伦表示，加利福尼亚州法律的措辞并无模糊不清之处。
“加利福尼亚州法律非常明确：除非获得执业授权，否则你不能自称是律师，”她告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻。“该法律不仅禁止未经授权的法律执业行为，还禁止未经授权冒充律师的行为。”
“加利福尼亚州法律不仅禁止无执照人员从事法律执业，”她补充道。“还禁止他们假装自己有资格从事法律执业。你甚至不需要踏入法庭或代理过任何客户，就可能违反该法规。”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/katie-zacharia-criticism-press-secretary-debut/
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirms she never passed bar exam after saying she’s a lawyer
October 15, 2026 / 3:28 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington— White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said Thursday that she never passed the bar, although she’s called herself a lawyer and President Trump has referred to her as an attorney.
Zacharia made the comment in an interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec after the Wall Street Journal reported that she failed the bar exam in California in 2011 and did not pass the bar in any other U.S. state in which she’s lived. Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine University’s law school.
Zacharia told Posobiec she took the bar exam in California but didn’t pass, saying she was distracted by her plans to get married and move to China for her husband’s work around the same time. She said she “didn’t think much” of the results, and said she didn’t need to pass the exam to do her work in China.
Zacharia also said she never described herself as an “attorney at law,” and said there’s a “lot of misinformation around the fact that I labeled myself a lawyer.” She said she consulted with multiple experts.
“I was very careful how I executed this. I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law,” Zacharia said.
Earlier this week, as President Trump was departing for a trip to Alaska, when reporters asked her where she had passed the bar exam, Zacharia responded, “I went to China,” sparking confusion about her law background.
A White House official said Zacharia earned her juris doctor from Pepperdine, which the university confirmed to CBS News. The White House official said Zacharia then moved to China with her husband for his job at an American private equity firm, while she worked on international transaction law.
Zacharia told CBS News in a statement Thursday she “practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” although it’s not clear which credentials she meant. Only Chinese nationals may take the bar exam in China.
On Fox News in April, Zacharia said she “lived in Beijing as a corporate lawyer for three years.”
Zacharia’s Instagram bio also says that she is a lawyer. On Truth Social, Mr. Trump called her “a distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, an attorney.”
Zacharia’s Instagram bio also says that she is a lawyer. Screenshot of Katie Zacharia’s personal Instagram
But whether it’s true that she can say she’s an attorney or lawyer is being disputed — and it’s a question Zacharia has considered. She told The New York Times that as she was beginning to appear on cable news, she talked with Pepperdine’s president about how she could describe herself. The Times said, “She said she was warned not to use the words ‘attorney” or ‘esquire,’ but that ‘lawyer’ was OK.”
The White House said Zacharia is “uniquely qualified” for the White House press secretary role.
“Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to CBS News. “She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary.”
On Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability, a liberal nonprofit watchdog, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California, questioning whether she had violated California law in referring to herself as a lawyer without having passed the bar. She had been living in California with her family until she became White House press secretary.
The Campaign for Accountability pointed to California Business and Professions Code Section 6126, which says, “Any person advertising or holding himself or herself out as practicing or entitled to practice law or otherwise practicing law who is not an active licensee of the State Bar, or otherwise authorized pursuant to statute or court rule to practice law in this state at the time of doing so, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
“Ms. Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility as a television legal commentator and now as the White House spokesperson, yet it seems it was all a lie,” Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. “In California, calling yourself a lawyer without a license isn’t puffery; it’s a crime. The State Bar should investigate whether Ms. Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has.”
Cheung blasted the left-leaning ethics group.
“This group that filed the ‘complaint’ is a radical leftist-organization run by rabid numbskulls suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Cheung posted to X. “Nobody takes them seriously because they are deranged low lifes.”
Nora Freeman Engstron, a law professor at Stanford Law School, said the language in California’s law isn’t ambiguous or unclear.
“California law is crystal clear: You can’t hold yourself out as a lawyer unless you’re authorized to practice law,” she told CBS News. “And the law doesn’t just prohibit the unauthorized practice of law. It also prohibits the unauthorized pretense of being a lawyer.”
“California law doesn’t just prohibit people from practicing law without a license,” she added. “It also prohibits them from pretending they’re entitled to practice law. You don’t have to set foot in a courtroom or represent a single client to run afoul of the statute.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/katie-zacharia-criticism-press-secretary-debut/
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