White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer, and Trump called her an “attorney” when he announced her hire. Now a senior administration official says she didn’t pass the California bar exam after law school. The White House’s defense: she’s a “lawyer,” not an attorney. Legal experts told NBC News that “lawyer” is widely understood to mean someone who passed the bar and is licensed to practice. NBC found no evidence Zacharia is licensed in any state. Zacharia says she practiced law in China, but experts say only Chinese citizens can sit for that country’s bar exam. A watchdog group has asked California’s attorney general and State Bar to investigate whether she engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The White House responded by calling a separate watchdog group “rabid numbskulls.”