The new White House spokesperson’s legal qualifications and debut were questioned, but Trump still praised her as “very good”

The new White House Press Secretary (Spokesperson) Katie Zacharia hosted her first press briefing on the 13th. CNN reported that some White House officials and advisers have criticized her performance and have even questioned how long she can stay in this position. However, Trump said after the meeting that he thought Zakaria was "very good."

Zakaria's first press briefing after taking office ended in only about 15 minutes. After the meeting, when he accompanied President Trump to the Marine One plane to prepare for his trip to Alaska, a reporter asked about his lawyer's qualifications. Reporters asked Trump loudly, "In which state did she (Zakariya) pass the bar exam?", "She said she was a practicing lawyer, where did she pass the bar exam and in which state?" Trump stood aside and let Zakaria answer, and she said: "When I moved to China."

The Washington Post reported on the 13th that Judd Legum, a reporter for the independent American newsletter website Popular Information, pointed out that Zakaria claimed to be a lawyer many times in national media, including 18 times on Fox News. She also claimed to be a lawyer on her social media account, but he could not find any record of her passing the bar exam in any state, and this qualification is almost a requirement for practicing law in the United States. The White House did not provide evidence that Zakaria was qualified to practice law in the United States, but the statement said she had "practiced international transactional law with all appropriate qualifications" in China.

In addition to the issue of lawyer qualifications, according to a CNN report on the 14th, several White House officials and Trump advisers pointed out that Zakaria's first briefing was unlikely to satisfy Trump, with one official describing it as "brutal." They already have questions about how long she can last in the position.

Some officials were puzzled by the White House's rush to bring her in "unprepared" for her second day in office, with a Trump adviser saying she should have gone through two weeks of practice mocking tough questions from reporters. The adviser commented that the best part of Zakaria's debut was the announcement that Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ambassador to Greece, had been asked to resign, "which could at least divert the outside world's attention from her performance."

However, Trump told the media shortly after the meeting, "I think she is very good." A person familiar with the matter revealed that Trump asked Zakaria to host the briefing. Although some people close to Trump had doubts about it, the source did not know that anyone reported it to Trump or Zakaria.