Main Street Independent

STORYLINE  ·  active

Katie Zacharia's White House press secretary tenure

Covers personnel decisions, briefing activity, public conduct, professional qualifications, and controversies surrounding Katie Zacharia's service in the White House press secretary role.

White House press secretary has no job description or required qualifications

Illustration accompanying article: White House press secretary has no job description or required qualifications
  • NPR reports Katie Zacharia was fired last week after five days as White House press secretary, in a role that carries no job description, no required qualifications and no congressional vetting.
  • NPR reported Zacharia had failed the California bar exam — and was therefore not an attorney — after she described herself as a lawyer.
  • NPR's account said Zacharia was visibly nervous in her first briefing, took only a handful of reporters' questions and largely stuck to scripted talking points.
  • Former Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told NPR the role requires access to the president, accountability to the American public and a willingness to take tough questions from reporters.
  • The position exists by presidential custom rather than statute; President Herbert Hoover appointed journalist George Akerson in 1929 as the first official White House press secretary, and 37 people have served in the role since.
 2026-10-18 · 5 MIN READ

Zacharia says Pepperdine president told her: lawyer, not attorney

Illustration accompanying article: Zacharia says Pepperdine president told her: lawyer, not attorney
  • Katie Zacharia told the New York Times on Wednesday that Pepperdine University's president advised her she could call herself a lawyer but not an attorney.
  • The watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint the same day with the California State Bar Association seeking an investigation into whether Zacharia repeatedly held herself out as a lawyer without a license.
  • Zacharia took the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine law school in 2011 but did not pass, according to the Wall Street Journal.
  • When asked by a reporter which state she passed the bar exam, Zacharia said, "When I moved to China"; she does not appear to be registered to the bar in any state where she has lived, the BBC reported.
 2026-10-15 · 3 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Katie Zacharia set for first briefing as Trump's press secretary