CNN anchor Kasie Hunt dropped a painful Thursday supercut of President Donald Trump new press secretary overblowing her resume mere days into her new job as a disseminator of information to millions of Americans and the world.
“I was a corporate lawyer. The friendliness of a westerner being in a. It was a Chinese law firm. It was amazing,” said Katie Zacharia to CNN on May 15.
“I love to be able to break that down. I’m a lawyer,” she told the Greg Kelly Show at WABC 77 Radio October 5.
“I am a lawyer, and I’m a rigorous researcher,” she also told the crew of the Clay & Buck Show August 13.
“I’m a lawyer. I went to Pepperdine, Pepperdine law as a lawyer,” Zacharia informed “In Front of Us with Jeff Storobinski” August 14.
“As a lawyer, the procedural steps are absolutely critical,” she told Fox News August 13.
“Lawyer, attorney, attorney at law, esquire. It’s a lot there,” said Hunt at the conclusion of the painful contradiction—which CNN assembled hours after Zacharia rationalize her lies, explaining that she sought advice, potentially legal advice, before referring to herself as a lawyer — despite having failed the California bar after graduating from law school.
“I consulted for a very long time. Many people in the field. Is it okay and acceptable if I label myself lawyer, not attorney at law, not Katie Zacharia, esquire, but lawyer, and provide legal analysis, not legal advice,” she told conservative show “Real America Voice” this Thursday afternoon. “And they said ‘absolutely, absolutely across the board. You can call yourself a lawyer.’”
“Her credibility took a massive hit her first week out, and then she didn’t do a great job,” said conservative pundit and Dispatch Editor Jonah Goldberg. “I think she’ll get better at it. It’s sort of axiomatic because I don’t think she could get a lot worse, but I also think she’ll get better at it. But if she’s going around representing herself as a lawyer or an attorney or whatever and she wasn’t one, it gets at her fundamental credibility for a job that requires a good bit of credibility.”
“I don’t think it matters,” quipped GOP pundit Scott Jennings. “A press secretary doesn’t need to be a lawyer. And he’s not hiring a lawyer. They got plenty of lawyers in the White House counsel’s office, and I’m sure they’re going to have to hire a bunch more. She doesn’t need to be a lawyer. What she needs to do is deliver the message from the podium in a way that is concise, on point, and that he likes. And that’s really the only thing that matters.”
“Well, part of it might be because she stood next to the president and was asked, ‘where did you pass the bar?’ And the president turned around and looked at her. So now there’s video of him, of the two of them standing together [looking bewildered],” said Hunt. “… It just it put Trump in a weird position in that moment.”
“Well, yes, but it’s easily cleared up,” assured Jennings. “And again, it’s inconsequential to the job whether or not she has a law degree.”
Panelist and former prosecutor Elie Honig, however, did not accept that argument.
“If any friend of mine or any of my students who I teach were to come to me years later and say, ‘I passed the I graduated law school, but I did not pass the bar, and I’m going to go put myself out there as a lawyer.’ I would say, ‘let’s not do that because at best it’s misleading, or worse,’” Honig said.