“Katie is definitely a fake lawyer”: General Hospital star reacts after Katie Zacharia claims she passed bar exam in China

Katie Zacharia, Trump’s new White House press secretary, has found herself at the center of a heated debate after claims emerged questioning whether she has ever been licensed to practice law. A Threads user sparked the conversation when he pointed out that despite Zacharia repeatedly claiming to be a lawyer on national TV, podcasts and social media, there is no evidence to support those claims.

General Hospital star Nancy Lee Grahn had a lot to say about that. The seventy-year-old actress, who has amassed more than 86k followers on Threads and more than 134k on Instagram, did not hold back when she weighed in on the debate. Grahn, who is famous for playing Alexis Davis on General Hospital and Julia Wainwright Capwell on Santa Barbara, has spent years portraying fictional lawyers on screen.

'“Having been a fake lawyer for 40 years, I can recognize another. Katie is definitely a fake lawyer,” shared Grahn.

(The remarks quoted above reflect Nancy Lee Grahn’s personal opinions expressed on social media and form part of the broader public conversation surrounding the matter. Their inclusion is for reporting purposes only.)

Nancy Lee Grahn ended her opinion with a laughing emoji for good measure.

Katie Zacharia says she passed bar exam in China as White House scrambles over her legal credentials:

When asked where she had been admitted to the bar, Katie Zacharia gave an answer that raised more questions than it answered. The new White House press secretary (Karoline Leavitt resigned from her position as White House press secretary at the end of August 2026) told reporters she had passed a bar exam in China, a country where noncitizens are not permitted to practice law in courtrooms.

As per a report shared by The Washington Post, the White House scrambled on Tuesday to address growing questions about Zacharia’s legal credentials after she made a brief and halting debut in the briefing room. President Donald Trump had called Zacharia “an attorney” when he announced her appointment on Friday, and her LinkedIn profile listed her as having served as general counsel for Fix California, a nonprofit founded by Ric Grenell, a high-profile Trump adviser.

When pressed further on whether Zacharia had ever been a practicing attorney in the United States, the White House did not elaborate. A statement from the White House noted that Katie Zacharia had moved to China with her husband after graduating, due to his job at an American private equity firm, while she worked on international transaction law.

Katie Zacharia does hold a law degree from Pepperdine University, having graduated in 2011, which the university confirmed. Independent journalist Judd Legum was first to report the questions surrounding her bar admissions, after noting that Zacharia had not been admitted to the bar in California.

Trump says Katie Zacharia was very good after her debut:

Katie Zacharia’s first appearance in the White House briefing room was anything but smooth. She took just three questions from reporters after reading off a script, in what was described as a sometimes-stumbling debut. As per the report shared by The Washington Post, her arrival at the podium drew mixed reviews from inside the White House itself.

Trump, however, had no reservations. He told reporters after Tuesday’s briefing,

“I thought she was very good.”

Zacharia accompanied the president as he made his way to Marine One en route to a campaign rally in Alaska, which many took as a show of support. Senior staff members, including powerful chief of staff Susie Wiles, were only informed of the decision the night before Trump announced it on Friday. Trump had bypassed even Wiles to make the call, according to four people with knowledge of the internal conversations.

Zacharia had her own words ready when she stepped up to the podium, reading from a thick briefing book as she alternated between its pages.

“I have wanted to work for him for a very long time,” she said of Trump.

Katie Zacharia makes headlines for touting Trump rally crowds and an accidental slip during her first briefing:

Katie Zacharia’s fourteen-minute debut in front of the cameras was eventful, to say the least. She spent much of her opening statement praising Trump’s energy and touting crowd sizes at his rallies, touching on a topic that has followed Trump’s press secretaries since day one of his first term.

“Attendance is at record highs as enthusiastic, hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans,” she said.

Zacharia took questions from just three outlets during the briefing: Breitbart News, Fox News and the Daily Mail. When Fox asked whether the Trump administration had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she replied that she would

“have to get back to you on that.”

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She also announced that the White House had asked for the resignation of U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was previously the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. and had been embroiled in allegations that she asked a Republican donor for $100,000 to help settle her American Express bill. Zacharia also made an accidental slip, referring to “my president” rather than “my husband” while answering a question about balancing family life with the demands of the job.

“My president, excuse me, my husband, that’s a good one,” she said.

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