Trump's past mockery of bar exam failures resurfaces after new White House spokesperson fired over false legal credentials

Past remarks Donald Trump made about bar exam failures are drawing renewed attention after his newly appointed White House spokesperson was fired just four days into the job over false claims about her legal credentials. Trump had repeatedly questioned the intellectual capacity of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris by pointing to their bar exam failures during the 2016 and 2024 presidential races.

The Washington Post reported Thursday (local time) that the scrutiny surrounding new White House spokesperson Katie Zacharias' bar exam failure stems from Trump's long history of linking such failures to questions of intelligence when attacking political rivals.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly brought up Harris' bar exam failure to mock her intellectual abilities. At a National Association of Black Journalists event on July 31, 2024, he linked her bar exam record to cognitive testing.

Trump said at the time that he and Joe Biden had agreed to take cognitive tests and that Harris could take one alongside them. He then said, "You know, Harris failed the bar exam. She failed the test, so maybe she won't pass the cognitive test either."

Harris failed the bar exam on her first attempt but passed on her second try.

Trump leveled the same type of criticism at Clinton, the Democratic candidate he faced in the 2016 presidential race.

At a campaign rally in Florida on Oct. 12, 2016, Trump mocked Clinton over her bar exam record. "Clinton went to Washington, D.C., and took the bar exam and failed," he said. "But she calls herself a genius. No. She failed the bar exam."

The Washington Post noted that Trump had used bar exam failures as a measure of a rival's competence even then, but added that the contradiction is now sharper because the White House spokesperson he personally appointed is herself reported to have failed the bar exam.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that new White House spokesperson Katie Zacharias failed the California bar exam after graduating from law school in 2011.

Zacharias earned a law degree from Pepperdine University and served as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson before taking office as White House spokesperson on Monday. Questions about her legal credentials surfaced shortly after she was appointed, as both Trump and Zacharias had referred to her as a lawyer, but reporters were unable to verify any record of her passing the bar exam.

Zacharias was fired just four days after starting the job.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday (local time) as he departed for a campaign rally in Georgia that "maybe this isn't the right fit" for Zacharias, adding, "She doesn't have to do this if she doesn't want to. She should think it over."

When asked whether those remarks meant Zacharias had been dismissed, Trump said, "No. I wish her a good life. She's been very harshly attacked by the media."

The White House officially confirmed Zacharias' dismissal immediately after Trump's remarks, however, making clear that he had in effect delivered the news himself.