Katie Zacharia, who began serving as White House press secretary on May 13, confirmed on Thursday that she did not pass the California bar exam, according to a report by The Washington Post.

Zacharia said the outcome was “somewhat inconsequential” because she planned to move to China in 2011 to join her husband, and that she had already registered for the exam before deciding to relocate. “I didn’t want to withdraw from that,” she told Real America’s Voice, a right-wing media outlet. “We knew we would be moving out to China. And I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I’d been long-distance from for at least a year.”

The newsletter Popular Information reported that Zacharia repeatedly identified herself as a lawyer and attorney in television appearances and listed a general counsel position on her résumé, but no evidence was found that she passed a state bar exam. A Washington Post review found no records of a California bar license, and several legal experts told the newspaper that she could not legally call herself an attorney without being licensed.

Zacharia added confusion earlier in the week when she responded to questions about where she took the bar exam by saying, “When I moved to China.” Legal experts noted that only Chinese nationals can sit for the country’s bar exam, and that work she performed at a Chinese law firm must have been limited and supervised because she was not a citizen.

The White House previously told The Post and other outlets that Zacharia practiced with “all the appropriate credentials.” On Wednesday, two nonprofit organizations filed formal complaints with the State Bar of California, requesting an investigation into whether she engaged in the “unlawful practice of law” by offering legal analysis in media appearances and serving as general counsel for Fix California, a nonprofit founded by former Trump administration official Richard Grenell. One group also asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) to pursue a separate inquiry.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Wednesday that Zacharia took the bar exam but did not pass. In her interview with Real America’s Voice, she described the scrutiny as “misinformation” and “miscommunication.” She said she consulted legal professionals who assured her she could refer to herself as a “lawyer” without issue, though not as an “attorney at law” or “Katie Zacharia, Esquire.” These individuals also advised her that she could provide “legal analysis, not legal advice,” though she did not address her role as general counsel in California, which remains under review by the state bar.