President Donald Trump shared two artificially generated videos on his Truth Social platform on Monday, November 9, 2026, depicting Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White as the White House press secretary. The posts followed previous remarks from the president suggesting White might take the communications role, a suggestion he later described as a joke.
The first video, posted at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, showed an AI version of White walking toward a lectern on the White House grounds to address a crowd. A second video, posted 23 minutes later, depicted White engaged in a confrontation with the White House press corps.
In the second AI-generated clip, the digital likeness of White tells reporters to "sit down and shut up" and states he will not answer questions until they "show some respect." When an AI-generated journalist asserts the public's right to information, the digital White responds by telling the reporter to "speak when I say so" or leave the room. Following these social media posts, White appeared alongside Trump at a White House briefing on Monday, where he publicly declined the position of press secretary.
For members of the press and the public, the immediate change is the introduction of synthetic media into official political discourse. Instead of traditional announcements regarding staff changes or appointments, these AI-generated depictions presented a fictionalized version of government operations. The scale of the audience for these posts includes the millions of users on the Truth Social platform.
The knock-on effects include potential changes in how the White House interacts with the media and how the administration uses technology to portray public figures. The incident establishes a precedent for using AI tools to simulate official government briefings that did not occur. While White has officially turned down the role as of Monday, November 9, 2026, the administration has not announced a specific date for a new press secretary appointment.