Sean Hannity questioned Katie Zacharia over her bar exam controversy during an interview about her first week as President Trump’s press secretary.
The Fox News host challenged Zacharia after referring to her description of the dispute over her legal credentials as a “conspiracy theory”.
Hannity noted that Zacharia had attended Pepperdine University and failed her first attempt at passing the bar exam. She appeared uncomfortable before giving a lengthy explanation about becoming engaged and moving to China with her family for work.
Zacharia said the result had been “inconsequential” because she “knew I wouldn’t need the bar in China”. She also said she did not take the examination again after having children.
Hannity then interrupted to ask directly whether she had sat the bar exam for a second or third time. Zacharia replied that she “did not”.
The exchange then turned to the distinction between describing herself as a lawyer and as an attorney. Zacharia said she had been advised by several people that she could use the term “lawyer”, but not “attorney”.
Hannity cited a media report claiming that Zacharia had referred to herself as an attorney in 15 social media posts. She rejected that characterisation, saying the posts were retweets and that she had not been endorsing the title.
Hannity responded that most people did not distinguish between a lawyer and an attorney, prompting a further response from Zacharia.
