President Donald Trump clarified he was joking when he floated Dana White for White House Press Secretary. However, the UFC CEO’s camp confirmed a Monday meeting in Washington anyway. This seems to keep the story alive.
Donald Trump says he was joking about Dana White’s job offer
Donald Trump shut down the buzz himself while flying back to Washington from his Florida club. He told the press pool that he “was only kidding” about handing Dana White the briefing room, and he spelled out the gag’s logic: a Dana White press shop staffed by UFC fighters would leave reporters too intimidated to push back.
“So I was kidding, but I think Dana likes the idea, and he is a very capable guy,” Trump said. “Of course, I was kidding. And you could see that because I put all of the great fighters as his assistants, that they’re all going to come with him … It was just a little fun.”
The joke started on Saturday on Truth Social. Trump posted that he had offered the White House Press Secretary job to Dana White, calling the UFC boss “a violent Fighter and Warrior” and promising a crew of fighters as “assistants.” Trump then said on Sunday that after the post went up, people told him “that’s actually a pretty good idea,” though he named no one.
Meanwhile, White did not treat the whole thing as a gag. He told reporters he already holds “a lot of jobs” and confirmed he will sit down with Trump on Monday. “I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about after that,” he said. Both men kept the bit running online.
White shared a photo of himself at the White House podium with the caption “On to the next chapter.” Trump pushed out an animated cartoon of White in the briefing room, surrounded by fighters, one of whom body-slams a journalist.
Overall, the press secretary’s chair has sat empty for three weeks. Katie Zacharia resigned after five days on the job when questions surfaced about her presenting herself as an attorney without a US law license. She had replaced Karoline Leavitt, who left at the end of August.
