Who is Katie Zacharia?

The briefing itself

The briefing took place in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room and lasted about 15 minutes, during which Zacharia took just 3 questions, all from conservative outlets: Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail. Roughly half of the briefing was a prepared statement in which she read out President Donald Trump's achievements. Mainstream reporters shouted questions after she announced it was over, and got nothing.

Zacharia appeared breathless and noticeably anxious throughout. In one of the more memorable stumbles, she accidentally referred to Trump as "my president... excuse me, my husband" when she meant to say her husband, Tyler Zacharia.

The bar exam moment

The briefing also produced the gaffe that ultimately sank her. After the briefing, a reporter asked where Zacharia had passed the bar exam. She replied: "When I moved to China." She later said she misheard the question as "Where were you after law school?" because of noise from the presidential helicopter Marine One overhead. In fact, she had taken the California bar exam after graduating law school and did not pass. The problem compounded quickly when it became clear that foreign nationals cannot take the bar exam in China.

The fallout

CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported that several White House officials were already questioning how long Zacharia would keep the job after the briefing, noting her performance was unlikely to satisfy Trump. Zacharia later blamed the flubbed briefing on a lack of preparation time, saying she had been given the finalized briefing book less than two hours before the event.

She then went on Sean Hannity's Fox News show and said she did her "very best," while also defending herself against criticism over her legal credentials. She had been heavily scrutinized for taking only 3 questions during a roughly 14-minute briefing, much of which she spent touting the Trump administration's accomplishments ahead of the midterm elections. That Hannity interview went no better: Zacharia later said she was "just as perplexed about what happened, specifically with Sean Hannity," adding that she "was not prepared for the hostility that I received."

Trump told reporters he wanted Zacharia to be happy and that she "has suffered over the last few days," suggesting the role might not be for her. She was out within the week.

What she actually said

Reporters asked Zacharia, at her first briefing, in what state she had passed the bar. She responded: "When I moved to China." Reporters took that to mean she had taken the Chinese bar exam while living there between 2011 and 2013. The Washington Post reported that she "said she had passed a bar exam in China."

Later, Zacharia said she had misheard the question due to noise from Marine One overhead, and that she hadn't meant to imply she took a Chinese exam at all.

Why the claim doesn't hold up

The problem is that even if she had meant it, it would have been impossible. China does have a bar exam, the National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination, but only Chinese citizens may sit it, under rules set by China's Ministry of Justice. Eligibility rules for China's national judicial examination in 2011, when Zacharia reportedly began working in Beijing, required candidates to hold Chinese nationality. When asked whether she could have taken and passed the exam before 2017, one expert wrote that there was "no possibility that she passed the Chinese bar exam, ever." Donald Clarke, who studies Chinese law at George Washington University, confirmed that only Chinese citizens can sit it.

Then she made it worse

In a follow-up interview on Real America's Voice, Zacharia acknowledged she sat the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine's law school but did not pass. She said the results were "somewhat inconsequential, because I knew I wouldn't need the bar in China." Then she said: "There's no Chinese bar. I had enough credentials, which was my law degree."

That line landed badly because it was wrong. China does have a bar exam.

What the record shows

Zacharia is not listed as a member of the bar in Texas or Washington, D.C., and after analyzing state bar association databases from all 50 states and Washington, journalist Judd Legum found that Zacharia never actually passed the qualifying legal exam anywhere. Snopes found no evidence Zacharia was a lawyer in the U.S. or in China.

So the short answer: she said it, it spread as a claim, she later denied intending it, and either way it was impossible under Chinese law. The credential she was calling on never existed.