The new White House press secretary added to her already rocky tenure on Thursday with a less-than-stellar interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Even the Trump-friendly Hannity couldn’t help but question Katie Zacharia about her rocky inaugural press briefing this week, and ask about reports that she failed the California bar exam yet has long described herself as an attorney.
Hannity described the press briefing as “widely panned,” noting it lasted 14 minutes and Zacharia took only three questions.
“What I feel is I really stepped up to the plate to do the press conference, Sean, with very little prep time,” Zacharia said.
After several more minutes of Zacharia defending her performance, Hannity jumped in and said it sounded like she was complaining that White House staff hadn’t prepared her better.
“Well, I believe at that time I could’ve just given a brief intro and said, ‘I’m here to introduce myself, and I want to engage with the press corps,’” Zacharia said.
Hannity then moved on to the issue of Zacharia calling herself an attorney despite not being a member of any state bar.
“You said you consulted with many people and they advised you that it was okay to call yourself a lawyer but not an attorney, correct?” Hannity asked.
“Correct,” Zacharia said.
Hannity then pointed to a CNN report that showed Zacharia had shared 15 social media posts identifying her as an attorney.
“I think they were retweets, and I corrected the record and said that they’re not endorsing the title; they were retweets of a title that had been given,” Zacharia said.
Hannity then asked Zacharia why she got into a prolonged debate about the differences between an attorney and a lawyer.
“Why not just say ‘I went to Pepperdine Law School and then took a different career path? And I took the bar once and didn’t pass it?’” Hannity said. “Why get into this long, drawn out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney? Cuz I don’t think most people see much of a distinction. Why didn’t you just say, ‘I never practiced law’?”
Zacharia admitted that she didn’t pass the bar, and attempted to talk her way around her legal backstory:
“Well, Sean, when I moved back from the United States, I didn’t retake the bar. I had four kids in six years. It was never my intent to go into the practice of law. When I was at, when I went to go engage in media and give legal analysis, I consulted attorneys and legal professionals as to whether or not they agreed that I could be labeled a lawyer, both because I had a valid Juris Doctor from a good law school, a reputable law school, Pepperdine Law School, and in conjunction with the fact that I did have actual substantive legal experience. I wasn’t providing any legal analysis, Sean, or excuse me, legal advice. I wasn’t being paid for legal advice. I was giving a general review of the legal circumstances surrounding it.”