Oops: WH Memo Names 2 Secretaries of Defense

President Donald Trump walks to Marine One. (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

By    |   Saturday, 04 February 2017 04:55 PM EST ET

A White House memo released Saturday accidentally named James Mattis and John Kelly as secretaries of defense, The Hill reports.

"On January 20th, Secretary Of Defense James Mattis was sworn in. On January 20th, Secretary Of Defense John Kelly was sworn in," the memo states in two points.

Mattis was sworn in as the secretary of defense on Jan. 20 while Kelly was sworn in as the secretary of Homeland Security in December. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is also referred to as the "President of Australia" in the document.

It's the second miscue coming out of the White House in an official format since Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. The first time was when British Prime Minister Theresa May's name was misspelled three times in a Jan. 26 memo listing Trump’s schedule on that day.

It's also the day after top White House aide Kellyanne Conway was slammed for her citing a 2011 "massacre" in Kentucky that never happened. She was defending Trump's executive orders to temporarily ban travel into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Newsfront
A White House memo released Saturday accidentally named James Mattis and John Kelly as secretaries of defense, The Hill reports.
james mattis, white house, john kelly, memo, kellyanne conway, error
179
2017-55-04
Saturday, 04 February 2017 04:55 PM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

View on Newsmax