Is there an actual protocol that keeps the president’s aides from following too closely behind him, or is White House press secretary Katie Zacharia just making excuses?

Zacharia said she misheard the question when she told a reporter twice on Tuesday that she passed the bar exam “when I moved to China,” raising questions about whether she is actually a lawyer or an attorney, as she and the president have claimed.

Zacharia told the New York Times on Wednesday that she could not hear the question over the sound of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, on the White House South Lawn.

“I assumed the question was, ‘Where were you after law school?’” she told the Times. “That’s all I could hear over the sound of Marine One. And, wanting to respect protocol, the distance behind the president kept me from moving closer to hear the question.”

Q: You said Zacharia is an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam? What state?ZACHARIA: When I moved to China pic.twitter.com/LUAk4Vhqgp

It’s unclear whether any formal protocol sets a distance between the president and his staff during South Lawn sessions. The White House did not respond to HuffPost’s questions about whether a protocol exists and whether it would prevent staff from stepping close to hear questions from the press during a gaggle. Instead, the White House re-sent HuffPost a statement from White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, calling Zacharia “a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team.”

Jonathan Wackrow, a law enforcement analyst for CNN and former Secret Service agent under the Obama administration, told HuffPost that security protocols and general protocols surround the president, with the latter set by residence staff. He said he doesn’t know what the general protocols are under Trump, since they vary by administration. But Wackrow said Secret Service would not have stopped Zacharia from stepping closer “unless it violated a security protocol, which it did not.”

“Every administration sets how staff operates in the environment around the president,” Wackrow said. For times like these in front of the press, “you want to be deferential to the president, just like other staff members are — they don’t want to be part of the story. They want to be a step away, even if people are calling their name.”

“I’m surprised the president didn’t turn back and usher her forward,” Wackrow continued. “It could have just been a, ‘Let’s get on the helicopter.’”

Martha Kumar, a professor emerita of political science at Towson University who serves as the director of the White House Transition Project, told HuffPost, “Usually staff do[es] not participate in the South Lawn sessions.” On the South Lawn, the press is packed into a secure section on the east side, while the president and staff are usually on the west side as they head toward Marine One.

“These are president-only sessions unless he were to bring someone up next to him,” Kumar said.

The noise, at least, is real. Wackrow said it is incredibly loud on the South Lawn.

“I spent a ton of time with the old helicopters, doing hundreds of self-ground departures or arrivals — it is very loud,” he said. “This helicopter is actually slightly closer to the press than the other one was. … This aircraft [also] has what’s known as an APU, a small engine that’s constantly running. So the blades are off, the main engines are off, the helicopter is off, [but] everything is functioning. That is a loud sound.”

The protocol doesn’t address why Zacharia didn’t ask the reporter to repeat the question.

“Not to give an excuse, but to give some context to understand where you should be standing [and] what you should be doing around the president, [they] take a little bit of time to get used to,” Wackrow said. “I’ve seen new staff members at the White House not know what to do. This could be one of those moments. But also the [press] questions were fairly direct.”

The White House also shared a statement from Zacharia, in which she said, “I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.”

In Zacharia’s first TV interview since being named White House press secretary on Thursday, she told “Real America’s Voice” host Jack Posobiec that she didn’t want to withdraw from taking the bar in 2011, but was “distracted and overwhelmed” because she had just gotten engaged and passing it was “somewhat inconsequential” since “I knew I wouldn’t need the bar in China.”

“There’s no Chinese bar [exam]; I had enough credentials — which was my law degree — to be able to do this practice,” she said. China’s bar exam is not available to U.S. citizens.

When Posobiec asked Zacharia why she never took the bar when she returned to the U.S. in 2014, she said it was because she started having kids and many people confirmed it was “OK and acceptable” to label herself “a lawyer.” She did not say who.

Kate Zacharia tells Jack Posobiec that she was distracted when she took the bar exam because she had just gotten engaged, but it didn't matter anyway because passing it was "inconsequential" since she  "knew I wouldn’t need the bar in China."When asked why she never took the… pic.twitter.com/gI0BubFHbN

The White House press secretary does not require a legal background or a license to practice law to hold the position. However, Zacharia and Trump have both publicly presented Zacharia as a lawyer and attorney multiple times since March 2025, according to reporter Judd Legum.

.@KatieZacharia is not a lawyer and has never been licensed to practice law. The @WSJ reports this evening that she took the California Bar Exam but failed. Nevertheless, Zacharia appeared on media programs for YEARS and repeatedly called herself a lawyer.Here's a super cut: pic.twitter.com/EGbEAAnZVH

Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law with a Juris Doctor (JD) degree. But JD graduates must also pass state bar exams to be licensed to practice law, provide legal representation and act as attorneys in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Zacharia sat for the California bar exam in 2011 but did not pass.

Zhong Lun Law Firm, the China firm Zacharia lists on her LinkedIn as where she worked as an associate from 2011 to 2012, did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. Gary Gao, a Shanghai-based partner at Zhong Lun, told the New York Times that the firm hires foreigners to help with foreign language and business culture.

“They are not practicing Chinese law at any time,” Gao told the Times.

The Times reported that Zacharia said on her call with the publication she spoke with Pepperdine’s president about how to identify herself and was told she could say “lawyer,” but not “attorney” or “esquire.” Pepperdine did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment by the time of publication.

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.