China's national bar exam excludes foreign nationals, a rule that applied while Katie Zacharia lived in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. Asked on Tuesday which US state she had passed the bar in, the new White House press secretary replied, 'When I moved to China.'
The answer matters because Zacharia has often called herself a lawyer. If she meant China's exam, two US experts on Chinese law say a US citizen could not have passed it. Judd Legum of the newsletter Popular Information also found no record of her in any US state bar. Her answer did not clarify which exam she meant.