2026-10-14T15:33:23.787Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/14/politics/katie-zacharia-lawyer-press-secretary
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白宫新闻秘书本应负责解读新闻，而非成为新闻焦点。
在这项最核心的履职资格上，新任白宫首席发言人凯蒂·扎卡里亚正陷入困境。
她对外自称是一名律师，但在其家乡州，她并不符合使用该头衔的要求。
就在此前，共和党曾无情攻击密歇根州联邦参议院民主党候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德并非医生，尽管他曾就读医学院并在公共卫生领域从业，此番风波无疑让局面更加尴尬。
扎卡里亚拥有佩珀代因大学卡鲁索法学院的法学学位，但没有任何证据表明她曾通过律师资格考试。她声称自己曾在中国获得过一项资质，但完全不清楚她所指的究竟是什么资质。
对于美国大部分民众而言，关于谁能自称律师或医生的争执或许看起来无关紧要。
此次事件的关键不在于担任白宫新闻秘书必须拥有法学学位——事实上本就没有这项要求。
问题在于，扎卡里亚多次在电视场合（包括CNN的节目中）自称律师，这一情况最早由独立记者贾德·莱古姆披露。特朗普在宣布扎卡里亚将出任新闻秘书时，也曾用“律师”一词指代她。
CNN的“K档案”栏目经核查发现，扎卡里亚至少有六次亲口将自己称为律师或公司律师，此外她在社交媒体上发布或转发的内容中，也多次使用“律师”或“法律策略师”的表述。
华盛顿特区充斥着拥有法学学位却并未从事律师执业的人，且目前看来扎卡里亚并未不当代表他人参与法庭诉讼。
但所有这一切都表明，白宫的 vetting 流程（审核流程），往客气了说，并不够细致周全。
当记者在白宫追问特朗普扎卡里亚是在哪里通过律师资格考试时，站在他身后的扎卡里亚插话称，自己是在搬到中国后通过的考试。就连特朗普都愣了一下。
扎卡里亚后来在接受《政客》采访时表示，她“曾从事国际交易法律业务，具备所有相应资质”。
目前尚不清楚——白宫也未作出澄清——扎卡里亚在中国获得的是什么资质，但可以确定的是那并非中国的律师资格考试。根据中国司法部的规定，只有中国公民才能申请律师执业许可。
由于密歇根州共和党曾攻击阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德虽就读医学院却并非医生，扎卡里亚简历存在的问题也成了令人尴尬的新进展。
在本月的一场辩论中，该参议院席位的共和党候选人、前众议员迈克·罗杰斯甚至称埃尔赛义德是个“骗子”。
正如CNN此前报道的那样，埃尔赛义德拥有哥伦比亚大学医学博士学位，但并未从事临床医学工作。
埃尔赛义德曾在底特律地区担任公共卫生职位，他的核心政策主张是为所有美国人扩大医疗保险覆盖范围。
埃尔赛义德的民主党支持者仍称他为医生。
“阿卜杜勒是一名医生，他一直与特殊利益集团作斗争，为争取优质就业、更好的医疗保障和更低的成本而战，”前总统巴拉克·奥巴马在为这位密歇根州候选人制作的竞选广告中说道。
除了在电视上自称律师外，扎卡里亚在其领英页面上还列出了一些听起来与法律相关的工作经历；例如，她将自己列为维权组织“修复加州”的“总法律顾问”。但在该非营利组织2024年的纳税申报文件中，扎卡里亚的身份是筹款人。
她还在领英上称，2011年起曾在北京中伦律师事务所国际业务部担任“律师”近两年时间。
白宫记者团显然已就此疑点展开跟进调查。
“扎卡里亚毕业后和丈夫一起搬到了中国，当时她丈夫在美国一家私募股权公司工作，她则从事国际交易法律业务，”一位白宫官员表示。
CNN白宫报道团队经核查发现，没有任何证据表明扎卡里亚在从佩珀代因大学毕业后于其生活和工作过的州通过了律师资格考试。
以下是加州律师协会给出的答复：
加州法律明确规定了成为律师的必备条件。
要求包括完成大学和法学院教育或同等学历、“良好的道德品行”、通过职业道德考试以及加州律师资格考试。
因此，扎卡里亚不应被视为加州的律师，而加州正是她此前生活和工作过的州。
但仍有更多疑问悬而未决：如果确实获得过资质，扎卡里亚在中国获得的到底是什么资质？她是否尝试过参加律师资格考试但未通过，或是根本就没有参加？为何白宫方面没有人，尤其是在埃尔赛义德的医生身份引发质疑后，更早想到对这一情况进行核查？
对于那些更关注白宫如何处理特朗普对伊朗发动的战争，以及持续影响美国人钱包的通胀问题的人而言，这些问题或许都无关紧要。关于扎卡里亚能否自称律师的争议，在很大程度上分散了人们对其他更重大议题的注意力。
归根结底，在椭圆形办公室经常进行的冗长且时常漫无边际的公开露面中，特朗普才是代表其政府发声的人。
但未来这些公开露面可能会让他不再那么轻松，尤其是如果民主党控制国会众议院或参议院，并且正如预期那样，对其政府、其家族在总统任期内的敛财行为等展开一系列调查时。
届时，他将需要一位值得信赖的新闻秘书。
CNN的安德鲁·卡钦斯基参与了本文报道。
The real problem with Katie Zacharia not actually being a ‘lawyer’
2026-10-14T15:33:23.787Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/14/politics/katie-zacharia-lawyer-press-secretary
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
The press secretary is supposed to spin the news, not be the news.
On that most essential qualification, the new lead White House spokeswoman, Katie Zacharia, is struggling.
She has presented herself as a lawyer but does not meet the requirements in her home state to use that title.
It’s a development made even more awkward after Republicans mercilessly attacked the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, for not being a doctor, though he went to medical school and made his career in public health.
Zacharia has a law degree from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, but there’s no evidence she ever passed a bar exam. She does claim to have obtained a credential in China, but it’s not at all clear what credential she’s talking about.
Squabbles over who can call themselves a lawyer or a doctor probably seem beside the point to a large portion of the country.
This issue here is not that a law degree is required to be White House press secretary — it isn’t.
The issue is that Zacharia has presented herself repeatedly on TV, including on CNN, as a lawyer, something the independent journalist Judd Legum first documented. Trump used the term “attorney” to describe her when he announced she would be his press secretary.
A review by CNN’s K-File found at least six instances when she referred to herself as either a lawyer or a corporate lawyer in her own words and multiple other instances in which she posted or reposted to social media using the term attorney or “legal strategist.”
Washington, DC, is filled to the brim with people who have law degrees but do not practice law. And it does not appear that Zacharia inappropriately tried to represent anyone in a court.
But all of this does suggest the vetting operation at the White House is, to be charitable, not very thorough.
When reporters asked Trump at the White House where Zacharia passed the bar, she chimed in from behind him that she was when she moved to China. Even Trump did a double take.
Zacharia later told Politico she had “practiced international transactional law, with all the appropriate credentials.”
It’s not clear — and the White House has not clarified — what certification Zacharia obtained in China, but it’s not the Chinese version of the bar exam. Only citizens can become licensed to practice law in China, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Questions about Zacharia’s CV are also an awkward development since Republicans in Michigan have attacked the Democrat running for Senate there, Abdul El-Sayed, for not being a doctor despite having gone to medical school.
At a debate this month, the Republican in the Senate race, former Rep. Mike Rogers, went so far as to say El-Sayed was a “con man.”
As CNN has reported, El-Sayed earned a Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University, but he does not practice clinical medicine.
El-Sayed has held public health positions in the Detroit area. His top policy issue is extending health insurance to all Americans.
Democratic boosters of El-Sayed have continued to call him a doctor.
“Abdul’s a doctor, and he’s taken on special interests to fight for good jobs, better healthcare, and lower costs,” former President Barack Obama said in an ad he cut for the Michigander.
In addition to saying on TV that she is a lawyer, Zacharia cites some legal-sounding work on her LinkedIn page; for example, she lists herself as “general counsel” for the activist group Fix California. In the nonprofit group’s tax filing for 2024, Zacharia’s name appears as having been a fundraiser.
She also lists herself as having worked as an “associate” in the international practice group at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing for nearly two years starting in 2011.
The White House press corps, obviously, has followed up on this mystery.
“Katie moved to China with her husband after graduating because of his job at an American private equity firm while she worked on international transaction law,” according to a White House official.
CNN’s White House team has found no evidence that Zacharia has passed the bar exam in the states where she has lived and worked since graduating from Pepperdine.
Here’s what California’s bar association told them:
California law lays out what’s required to be a lawyer.
There are requirements for college and law school, or their equivalents; for “good moral character”; passing an ethics exam; and passing the bar exam in California.
Zacharia, as a result, should not be considered a lawyer in California, the state where she has lived and worked.
But so many more questions remain. What is the credential Zacharia obtained in China, if any? Did she try to take a bar exam and fail, or simply not take it? Why did no one at the White House, especially after questions arose about El-Sayed’s status as a doctor, think to follow up on this earlier?
None of that really matters to anyone who is more concerned with how the White House is handling the war Trump launched on Iran or the related inflation that continues to hit Americans in the wallet. Questions about whether Zacharia can call herself a lawyer, or not, mostly distract from those other, larger issues.
Ultimately, Trump is the person who speaks for his administration in the long, often rambling appearances he frequently makes in the Oval Office.
But those appearances may become less enjoyable for him in the future, especially if Democrats take control of one or both chambers of Congress and, as expected, launch a series of investigations into his administration, the money his family has made during his presidency, and much more.
He will, at that point, need a press secretary he can trust.
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski contributed reporting.