Dan Scavino | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Scavino in 2025 | |
| Director of theWhite House Presidential Personnel Office | |
| Assumed office October 13, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Sergio Gor |
| White House Deputy Chief of Staff | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Chief of Staff | Susie Wiles |
| Preceded by | Emma Doyle |
| White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications | |
| In office April 21, 2020 – January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Chief of Staff | Mark Meadows |
| Preceded by | Bill Shine |
| Succeeded by | Taylor Budowich[a] |
| Senior Advisor for Digital Strategy | |
| In office April 12, 2019 – January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Stevenson |
| White House Director of Social Media | |
| In office January 20, 2017 – April 12, 2019 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Daniel Joseph Scavino Jr. (1976-01-14)January 14, 1976 (age 49) New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | State University of New York, Plattsburgh (BA) |
Daniel Joseph Scavino Jr. (born January 14, 1976) is an American political advisor and former golf club manager who has served as the director of theWhite House Presidential Personnel Office since October 2025 and theWhite House deputy chief of staff since January 2025. Scavino served as the deputy chief of staff for communications from 2020 to 2021, as thesenior advisor for digital strategy from 2019 to 2021, and as the White House director of social media from 2017 to 2019.
Scavino studied speech communication at theState University of New York, Plattsburgh, graduating in 1998. After graduating, he worked forThe Coca-Cola Company and the pharmaceutical companyGalderma. In January 2004, Scavino became the assistant manager ofTrump National Golf Club Westchester. He was promoted to the club's general manager two years later and appointed as its executive vice president in 2008. Scavino joinedDonald Trump's2016 presidential campaign as an aide in June 2015, later becoming the campaign's director of social media. He retained his position in Trump'sfirst presidency. In April 2019, he became the senior advisor for digital strategy. The following year, he was appointed as the deputy chief of staff for communications by chief of staffMark Meadows.
After Trump's loss in the2020 presidential election, Scavino remained with him atMar-a-Lago and assisted him politically. TheHouse Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol subpoenaed Scavino in September 2021; for evading the committee, theHouse of Representatives voted to hold Scavino incontempt of Congress in April 2022, though theDepartment of Justice declined to prosecute him after he negotiated the terms of the subpoena. By January 2023, Scavino had joined Trump's2024 presidential campaign. In November 2024, Trump named Scavino as his deputy chief of staff. AfterSergio Gor was confirmed as theU.S. ambassador to India, Trump appointed Scavino as the head of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.
Daniel Joseph Scavino[1] was born on January 14, 1976,[2][3] inYorktown, New York.[1] Scavino was the son of Daniel and Katherine Scavino.[4] Daniel was a teacher atMahopac High School, while Katherine was a stay-at-home mother.[3] He graduated fromYorktown High School,[5] where he played tight end and defensive end on the school's football team,[6] in May 1994.[5] He attended theState University of New York, Plattsburgh, majoring in speech communication.[7] As a freshman, Scavino was a caddie and bag room assistant at Briar Hall Country Club, where he metDonald Trump.[8] In his junior year, Scavino was a public relations intern forWalt Disney World inFlorida.[7] A youngCatholic, he was present for theWorld Youth Day in1993; Scavino later recalled toGannett News that he kissedPope John Paul II's ring twelve years later, months beforehis death.[9] Scavino was named to the university'sdean's list twice in 1997[10][1] and once in 1998,[11] when he graduated.[12] He continued to work at Briar Hall Country Club, then nascently acquired by Trump and renamed toTrump National Golf Club Westchester, through college.[3]
After graduating, Scavino worked forThe Coca-Cola Company.[3] By August 2000, he had become a business development manager and was pursuing amaster's degree in business management fromIona University. That month, Scavino got engaged to Jennifer Nathan, a pharmaceutical sales representative atEli Lilly and Company.[12] They married atSt. Columba Church the following month.[4] The Scavinos lived inHopewell Junction, New York,[4] and had two children[3] before divorcing in January 2018.[8] Four years later,[3] Scavino was working at the pharmaceutical companyGalderma.[13] In January 2004, Scavino returned to Trump National Golf Club Westchester as the club's assistant manager,[3] becoming the general manager by April 2006.[14] After the general managerCarolyn Kepcher resigned in August, he was named as acting general manager[15] before being appointed full-time in November.[13] In September 2008, he was appointed as Trump National Golf Club Westchester's executive vice president.[16] The Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce named Scavino to its Forty Under 40 list in February 2008[17] andGolf Inc. named him to its Most Admired Operators list in May 2009.[18] Scavino led Trump's acquisition of the Branton Woods Golf Club, later Trump National Golf Club Hudson Valley. From 2013 to 2015, he served as the director ofJoe Torre's Safe at Home Foundation.[19]
After an unsuccessful attempt to start a consulting firm, Scavino toldDonald Trump's son,Eric, that he was interested in joining the elder Trump's potential presidential campaign. In June 2015, Scavino joined Trump's2016 campaign. Prior to Trump's announcement, Scavino's assignments involved finding large donors and forming relationships with theRepublican National Committee. His role solidified as a general aide after the announcement, going on food runs toKFC andMcDonald's.[6] By December, he specialized in posting videos toVine.[20] A video ofCurtis Sliwa he posted toTwitter in December was used by Trump to justify his assertion that "thousands and thousands" ofAmerican Muslims cheered inNew Jersey during theSeptember 11 attacks.[20] That month, he shared a 2012 video of Muslims protesting against a rally held by a far-right group on Twitter, falsely stating it showed Muslims inGermany rallying forISIS.[21]
In February 2016, Scavino became Trump's director of social media.[22] He held meetings withRepublican National Committee members, includingRandy Evans, in an effort to earn the favor of possible delegates.[23] In June, Scavino garnered controversy over an image ofHillary Clinton beside a redsix-pointed star—believed by critics to be aStar of David—decrying her as the "most corrupt candidate ever". In a statement, Scavino claimed that he had found the image from a Twitter user critical of Clinton and inserted the star, believing it to be a sheriff's badge, usingMicrosoft Paint; according toMic, the image was originally found on animageboard website. Scavino later deleted the image and replaced the star with a circle.[24] According toPolitico, Trump's son-in-lawJared Kushner, the campaign managerPaul Manafort, and the communications advisorJason Miller told Scavino to remove the post.[25]
Scavino, among other Trump aides, was present in theSouth Lawn of theWhite House two days after the2016 presidential election, in which Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.[26] He was named as the director of social media for Trump'sfirst presidential transition the following day.[27] By December, Scavino had yet to be named to a position,[28] though he was expected to receive one.[29] On December 22, Trump named Scavino as his director of social media.[30] Prior to Trump'sfirst inauguration, Scavino worked out a strategy with Twitter in which followers of the @POTUS account would also follow @POTUS44, an archive ofBarack Obama's tweets.[31] The @POTUS account's biography noted that its posts were written by Scavino in addition to Trump, whose writings would be denoted with the signature "DJT". Trump retained his personal account,@realDonaldTrump; in contrast to @POTUS's "gracious, understated, and humble" demeanor, according toThe New York Times, @realDonaldTrump was caustic, erroneous, and boastful.[32] Scavino had access to @realDonaldTrump and @WhiteHouse and their associatedFacebook accounts. In February 2017, theTrump administration expanded its social media team.[33]
That month, theProject on Government Oversight requested that attorney generalJeff Sessions investigate Scavino for reposting a post from Trump that defended a fashion line established by Trump's daughter,Ivanka.[34] In April, Scavino urgedRepublicans to challenge representativeJustin Amash in the2018 United States House of Representatives election forMichigan's third congressional district.[35] TheOffice of Special Counsel found in June that Scavino's tweet violated theHatch Act, though it took no action against him.[36] That month, lawyers for Twitter users blocked by @realDonaldTrump argued that the blocks violate theFirst Amendment, sending a letter to Scavino, among other aides.[37] He was named inUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2017), a federal lawsuit over the blocks, the following month.[38]Politico described Scavino as "one of the president's most loyal lieutenants"—by virtue of his role in imitating Trump's posts and providing Trump with an outlet—by June.[39] Amid internal strife overSean Spicer's resignation as thepress secretary—in addition to his resignation ascommunications director over Trump's decision to appointAnthony Scaramucci as his successor—Scavino remained in the Office of Communications.[40]
Scavino was the only remaining Trump campaign staff member in the White House following the resignation ofHope Hicks as communications director in March 2018.[41] According toThe New York Times, by June, Scavino was considering leaving.[42] Scavino's role was largely ambiguous; according to the White House, Trump primarily dictated posts for Scavino to send, though his critics argued that Scavino also wrote posts himself.[6] Scavino and Trump's son,Donald Trump Jr., often shared incendiary andalt-right content, according toPolitico.[43] As director of social media, Scavino developed a persistent theme paying homage toGame of Thrones (2011–2019). He often praised Trump and, according toPolitico, frequently monitoredReddit, including the site's/r/The_Donald community.[44] An investigation byThe New York Times in November found that Scavino would assume control of @realDonaldTrump after 10 a.m.Eastern Time, when Trump would arrive in theWest Wing, and give Trump suggested posts in degrees of provocativity. His access to Trump's social media accounts posed an opportunity for associates of Trump to amplify their messaging to Trump's audience.[45] In April 2019, Scavino became thesenior advisor for digital strategy. Leading up to the shift in Scavino's position, Trump had relied on him less for posting onTwitter.[44] SenatorDianne Feinstein sought Scavino's testimony in connection withRussian interference in the 2016 elections, but she was rebuffed byRepublicans.[46]
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In April 2020,Mark Meadows, the recently appointedchief of staff, reorganized the communications staff, naming Scavino as thedeputy chief of staff for communications.[47] In theCOVID-19 pandemic, Scavino andJared Kushner were said to have been unconcerned over the possibility of contractingCOVID-19.[48] In July, he posted a cartoon fromBen Garrison, a cartoonist barred from the White House after his work was found to have engaged inantisemitic tropes, depictingNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases directorAnthony Fauci as a faucet drowning the economy in apparent efforts to cancel the2020 NFL season, impose permanent lockdowns, and close schools.[49] According toMaggie Haberman inConfidence Man (2022), Trump played a video prepared by Scavino downplaying COVID-19 at aWhite House Coronavirus Task Force briefing.[50]
Scavino spoke at that year'sRepublican National Convention as one of several personal testimonials offered at the convention.[51] Trump was encouraged to participate inefforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, in which Trump was defeated byJoe Biden, by Scavino, among other Trump allies.[52] The lawyerJenna Ellis toldFulton County, Georgia, prosecutors that Scavino told her weeks after the election that Trump refused to leave; after Ellis pushed back, Scavino purportedly said that he and Trump didn't care.[53] According to testimony provided by Scavino in theSmith special counsel investigation, Scavino, joined by Trump aides, sought to calm Trump over his loss as a mob of his supportersstormed theCapitol.[54] Scavino met with Trump to discuss strategy on how to get members ofCongress to defy the election certification process, promoted the march that preceded the attack, and posted messages from White House accounts on the day of the attack.[55] He was the longest-serving Trump aide in the administration.[51]
Scavino remained with Trump after the 2020 election, leaving the White House forMar-a-Lago after theinauguration of Joe Biden.[56] In February 2021, he was present in a meeting with Trump advisors to form apolitical action committee that would become Make America Great Again Action.[57] The following month, Scavino andBrad Parscale, Trump's former campaign manager, developed a plan for Trump to redevelop his online presence.[58] In September, theHouse Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol subpoeaned Scavino,[55] though he was not given the subpoena for several weeks.[59] By November, Scavino had yet to provide documents to the committee.[60]Bennie Thompson, the committee's chair, said in December that Scavino was set to testify.[61] By March 2022, he had continued to evade the committee. In response, the panel began seeking a criminal prosecution for Scavino.[62] Days later, Biden rejected his effort to assert executive privilege.[63] The following month, theHouse of Representatives voted to hold Scavino incontempt of Congress.[64] TheDepartment of Justice declined to prosecute him[65] after he negotiated the terms of the subpoena.[66]
By January 2023, Scavino had joined with Trump's2024 presidential campaign.[67] His posts on social media included promoting the work of several meme creators known collectively as Trump's Online War Machine.[68] Additionally, Scavino served on the board ofTruth Social, though he had left it by April 2024.[69] Concurrently, he was involved in theelection obstruction investigation and theclassified documents investigation into Trump; in the former, Scavino was subpoeaned in September 2022 as part of an intensified effort by the Department of Justice,[70] while in the latter, he appeared before a grand jury in December.[71] Scavino sought to avoid testimony in the election obstruction investigation; his effort was rejected by judgeBeryl Howell, who compelled him to testify in March 2023,[72] and reaffirmed by theCourt of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit weeks later.[73]
In November 2024,The Washington Post reported that Scavino was expected to be named as theWhite House deputy chief of staff.[74] On November 13, Trump named Scavino as his deputy chief of staff.[75] As Trump's deputy chief of staff, he continued to manage Trump's social media profiles.[76] In February 2025, Trump fired the board of theJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and named Scavino, among others, to the board.[77] In August,Axios reported that Scavino would succeedSergio Gor as the director of theWhite House Presidential Personnel Office.[78] On October 12, Trump announced that Scavino would serve as director after Gor was confirmed as theU.S. ambassador to India.[79]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | White House Deputy Chief of Staff forCommunications 2020–2021 | Succeeded by |
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