Did Trump offer press secretary job to wrong Dana White?

Posts claimed Trump mistakenly offered the gig to the UFC chief instead of a communications professional who once worked at the Department of Defense. Published Nov. 9, 2026 The claim that U.S. President Donald Trump offered the job of press secretary to Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, a white man, by mistake, is still under investigation. People said he was supposed to offer it to Dana White, a Black woman who once worked at the U.S. Department of Defense in a communications role. It is true that Trump announced he had offered the job of press secretary of the White House to UFC White. It is also true that there is another Dana White who is a communications professional and worked at the Pentagon in 2017 and 2018. As speculation about his supposed confusion intensified, Trump said he had offered the job to the UFC CEO in jest. Snopes will update this report if and when additional information surfaces. We have reached out to the White House and are awaiting a response. In November 2026, a rumor made the rounds that U.S. President Donald Trump offered the job of White House press secretary to Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, a white man, by mistake. Instead, people said, he was supposed to offer it to a different Dana White, a Black woman who, as part of a career in communications, once worked at the U.S. Department of Defense. The claim spread on social media, including on Instagram and Facebook. On X, someone said the Dana White who worked at the Pentagon was included on a short list of people for the press secretary post (archived): The post included a screenshot of White's profile from the Defense Department website. Meanwhiles, several Snopes readers reached out, seeking to confirm if the president had mixed up the two Whites. It is true that Trump said he offered the press secretary job to the UFC's White in a Nov. 7, 2026, post on his social network, Truth Social (archived): "Dana, please take the job!," Trump wrote. It is also true that a Black woman with the same name has a career as a communications professional that led her to work at the Pentagon in 2017 and 2018, according to her LinkedIn page. However, it was not clear whether Trump confused the two Dana Whites, and he later said he intended the offer as a joke. For this reason, we left the claim unrated. We reached out to the White House for clarification and we will update this report should we receive a response. Trump's post sparks intense speculation Shortly after Trump announced the job offer on Truth Social, White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung amplified (archived) Trump's post on X, adding, "Hell yeah! Do it,@DanaWhite! It'll just be like old times!" Meanwhile, the Dana White who worked at the Pentagon posted on LinkedIn (archived) thanking people for their well wishes on her new job, but specifying that she was not the Dana White Trump had offered the job to. "It is nice for once that, that Dana White is being confused with this Dana White," she wrote. The UFC's White reportedly turned down the job, CNN reported on Nov. 7, citing unnamed sources. As people began to speculate that Trump had confused the two Whites, a reporter asked him on Nov. 8 if he had meant to offer the job to the UFC's White or if he was "kidding around." Trump told her the offer had been a joke. A video from The Independent captured the exchange: This is not the first time Snopes has covered rumors about Trump mixing up people or things with similar names. For example, we confirmed he confused Iceland and Greenland in a speech, despite the White House's denial. We also examined a rumor he mixed up the terms "transgender" and "transistor." Sources Collins, Kaitlan, and Isabelle D'Antonio. 'UFC CEO Dana White Declines Trump's Offer to Become Press Secretary, Source Says'. CNN, 7 Nov. 2026, www.cnn.com/2026/11/07/politics/dana-white-trump-press-secretary. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.'Dana White - Biography'. IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm1831502/bio/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.Esposito, Laura. 'Trump's Press Secretary Offer Fuels Wild Mix-Up Theory'. The Daily Beast, 8 Nov. 2026, www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-ufc-job-offer-to-dana-white-fuels-wild-mix-up-theory. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.Goelz, Ally. 'The Other Dana White Responds to Trump's Surprise White House Press Secretary Announcement'. New York Post, 8 Nov. 2026, nypost.com/2026/11/08/us-news/other-dana-white-responds-to-trumps-surprise-white-house-press-secretary-announcement/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.Rascouët-Paz, Anna. 'Did Trump Confuse Greenland With Iceland at Davos? Leavitt Denied It, but Evidence Shows He Did'. Snopes, Snopes.com, 22 Jan. 2026, www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-greenland-iceland-leavitt/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.———. 'Did Trump Confuse "Transistor" With "Transgender" in Speech Criticizing CHIPS Act? We Examined Footage'. Snopes, Snopes.com, 21 July 2026, www.snopes.com/news/2026/07/21/trump-transgender-transistor-chips-act/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.The Independent. Trump Says 'Only Kidding' About Naming UFC CEO as White House Press Secretary. YouTube, 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfuFpBcTgBY. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026, Video.U.S. Department of War. 'Dana W. White'. U.S. Department of War, www.war.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/1170857/dana-w-white/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026. By Anna Rascouët-Paz Anna Rascouët-Paz is based in Brooklyn, fluent in numerous languages and specializes in science and economic topics. Got tips? Reach out to her on Signal at rascouetsnopes.41 or via email at anna@snopes.com. Article Tags