OC MAGA Firebrand Draws Scrutiny As New White House Press Secretary

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA — President Donald Trump's new press secretary took to the podium Tuesday and instantly made headlines.

Katie Zacharia, a conservative commentator and former State Department employee from Orange County, formally replaced former press secretary Karoline Leavitt this week after she stepped down in August. Zacharia made her first White House appearance during a Tuesday press briefing, where she announced that Trump asked Kimberly Guilfoyle — the U.S. ambassador to Greece — to resign from her post amid allegations of improper conduct.

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Zacharia, who hails from Huntington Beach, also found herself in the hot seat with White House reporters over her longstanding claim that she is a lawyer.

The self-described lawyer doesn't appear to have a California license nor any record of passing a state bar in the United States, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

She also raised eyebrows when she was asked where she passed the bar exam while standing alongside Trump on the White House South Lawn, The Hill reported.

"Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?" a reporter asked Trump, who turned to Zacharia and asked, "which state?"

"When I moved to China," Zacharia told reporters.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Zacharia attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, received a degree and soon graduated from its law school in 2011.

She has worked for nonprofit Fix California, a conservative political and voter-registration nonprofit led by Ric Grenell, Trump's former national intelligence director. The organization has Zacharia listed as its "general counsel," a term that typically refers to licensed attorneys, The Chronicle reported.

In addition, Zacharia described herself as a lawyer to conservative radio commentator Greg Kelly on Oct. 5, the outlet reported.

On CNN, Zacharia appeared in February in an interview and said, "As a lawyer, there's a big difference between answering something under oath and answering something to the media."

However, the State Bar told The San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday that it "has no record of Kate Sharon Zacharia or Kate Sharon Black having been licensed to practice law in California."

Under the California Business and Professions Code, anyone who holds themselves out as a practicing attorney in California without a license "is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in a county jail or a fine of up to one thousand dollars."

When asked to confirm where Zacharia passed the bar exam, a White House official told The Hill that she moved to China with her husband after graduating, relocating for his job at a U.S. private equity firm while she worked on international transaction law.

Zacharia was called upon to replace Karoline Leavitt, the youngest press secretary in history, widely known for her assertive delivery.

Leavitt stepped down in August after more than 19 months in the role, and announced her resignation shortly after returning from maternity leave, Forbes reported.

Talking up Trump but taking few questions

In her debut Tuesday, Zacharia looked downward and often read directly from a script. She paused and grinned when she uttered the words "Department of War." She stumbled on a question about her background and mixed up the words "husband" and "president." The few questions she took were nonconfrontational and from media outlets that have been sympathetic to the Republican president. In short: She made no memorable impression — or at least, to hear some tell it, not the one she likely wanted.

This would not be an easy job under any circumstances. Trump most frequently serves as his own spokesman. And his antagonism toward the media has created a new layer of tension. Zacharia is finding out on day one that she, too, will be under constant watch. Some — including a few of those who have stood in her shoes — didn't think it went all that well.

In fractured times, in a national media scrum unimaginable just a few decades ago, what is the proper way to approach a job like this? How do you speak effectively when your boss speaks for himself so often that he commandeers the news cycle multiple times a day — and sometimes late into the night — with remarks provocative, unexpected and sometimes incendiary?

For one, you realize for whom you work: not your audience of millions but your audience of one, and the absolute need for his approval.

"I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was hoping to amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump's incredible agenda for the American people," Zacharia said. Nowhere did she mention the task of disseminating accurate information to Americans.

While Zacharia's performance — and of course, that's what every briefing is — may have been bumpy to some, it was also mostly content-free except for news she broke about the White House asking Guilfoyle to quit, which she immediately did.

Predictably, also like Leavitt before her, Zacharia spent a great part of her opening monologue praising Trump and giving an "up 'til now"-style update on his second term's priorities and accomplishments so far. Talking points included a "booming economy," "his historic boom in energy production" and "a great relationship with Venezuela."

She was also fond of superlatives, a trait that likely will resonate with a president whose remarks are often equally if not more expansive: "President Trump is working to secure the Western Hemisphere for centuries to come."

When it came to questions, though, she was downright parsimonious. She allowed three questioners, then answered an additional one as she prepared to depart. The three called on during the briefing were Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail, all of which have been friendly to Trump in varying degrees during periods of his two terms. And she said she would continue Leavitt's policy of bringing "new media" in — which has often meant outlets more sympathetic to Trump.

"We love new media and we want to be able to embrace it," she said. Currently, three major outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — are fighting to regain White House access after Trump banished them last month, saying he didn't like their coverage and calling it "fake news."

How will Zacharia fare in coming days and weeks and, if it lasts, months? That, like so much else, depends on one thing: Donald Trump.

The late U.S. Sen. Howard Baker once famously said that, when being asked difficult things, handle it something like this: If you don't like the question being asked, just answer a different question. On Tuesday, a half-century later, Katie Zacharia found a different way in — pick three nonconfrontational questioners, then defer to your boss and say: The End.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.