Katie Zacharia

In 2007 Zacharia received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Pepperdine University. Her self-reported résumé lists internships during her undergraduate years at the Republican National Committee and in the White House Office of Political Affairs during President George W. Bush’s second term.⁠[1][2][3]

In 2011 she received her law degree from Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law. Her self-reported résumé lists work during law school at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and as a law clerk to the director of Advocates International, a global network of Christian lawyers.⁠[1][3]

After law school she moved to China with her husband, who was then working for an American private equity firm. Her self-reported résumé lists her as an associate on the International Practice Team at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013, and as manager of fundraising and communications for Compassion for Migrant Children, which assists the children of migrant workers, from 2012 to 2013. Both her author page at a California outlet and a June 2026 NovaRed Mining press release announcing her appointment to its advisory board said that while in Beijing she had done outside legal work for the World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).⁠[4][1][1][1][1]

Her self-reported résumé lists her as general counsel since 2024 of Fix California, a conservative political advocacy group founded by Trump ally Richard Grenell; she also served on the Dean’s Council at Pepperdine Law and as the school’s director of development. As a conservative commentator she appeared frequently on television outlets including Fox News and Newsmax. Trump said she had helped with his presidential campaigns in key swing states before joining the administration.⁠[2][3][1][2]

On February 17, 2026, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, announced her departure; her deputy, Lauren Bis, succeeded her as assistant secretary, and Zacharia became deputy assistant secretary. She said she was honored to serve President Trump and then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. That month she published an op-ed in the New York Post calling Trump “the greatest president in U.S. history” and criticizing liberal activists for “obstructing” the work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.⁠[5][3][3]

Her self-reported résumé lists two months as deputy assistant secretary at Homeland Security, after which she served as the department’s spokesperson.⁠[1][2]

Her self-reported résumé lists her as senior communications adviser since June 2026 at Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates Truth Social; she also served as a conservative commentator for the company.⁠[2][1][6]

On October 9, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that Zacharia would succeed Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary. Leavitt had announced her departure on August 12 and left the position on August 27. Trump described Zacharia as “a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning” and called her “an attorney” in the announcement. Zacharia wrote on X that it was “the honor of a lifetime.”⁠[6][6][6][6][1][2]

Her first official day on the job was October 12. On October 13 she held her first press briefing, which lasted about 14 minutes and took questions from only three outlets, Breitbart, the Daily Mail and Fox News; during the briefing she announced that the White House had asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign. Asked whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she said she would get back to reporters. She later explained that she had kept the briefing short to leave time for Trump’s own question-and-answer session later that morning, and that she had not been fully briefed by White House staff beforehand. It was her only briefing.⁠[7][8][8][9][9][7][7]

An investigation by the independent outlet Popular Information found no record of her being licensed to practice law in any U.S. state. On October 13, when reporters asked Trump where she had passed the bar exam, she answered, “When I moved to China.” A spokesperson for the State Bar of California said it had no record of her being licensed in California under any version of her married or maiden names; searches of attorney registration records in New York, the District of Columbia, California, Texas and Florida also found no listing for her. China’s national judicial examination in 2011 was open only to Chinese citizens, and Zhong Lun is a Chinese law firm; the firm did not respond to press inquiries. The White House passed along a statement in which she said she had practiced international transaction law “with all the appropriate credentials,” and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung called her “uniquely qualified.” On October 14 the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California asking it to investigate whether she had unlawfully held herself out as a lawyer.⁠[1][1][1][4][4][1][1][1][1][1]

On October 15, on Fox News, she acknowledged that she had not passed the bar exam; she said she had registered for the exam but became distracted by plans to move to China with her husband, and after returning to the United States did not retake it because of the birth of her first child. She said calling herself a lawyer was proper when she was offering legal analysis, and that she had worked as a lawyer in China.⁠[10][11][11][7]

On October 15, in an interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec, she recalled the view around 2016 that China was poised to overtake the United States, saying that having “just come from China” she thought China did not “even have proper toilets.” On October 16, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded at a regular press briefing that she was welcome to visit China more often when she had the opportunity.⁠[12][12][11][12]

On October 16, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he had advised Zacharia to “reconsider” the job, saying he believed she had been treated unfairly by the press and that he would talk with her after his weekend campaign travel. The same day, several people familiar with the matter said she had been fired and was “transitioning out” of the role. She had been in the job for less than a week; neither the White House nor she responded to requests for comment that day.⁠[7][7][7][7][13][10][7]