US President Donald Trump has said he was not serious when he invited Ultimate Fighting Championship president and CEO Dana White to take the White House press secretary job. Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at the airport bearing his name in Florida, Mr Trump said the offer had been in jest, according to RTE.ie. "I was only kidding, but Dana loves the idea," he said.
The position has been empty since Katie Zacharia stepped down on 16 October, having spent under a week in the role. The press secretary is traditionally among the most visible figures in any administration, appearing before cameras and briefing journalists on a regular basis.
Why it matters
The vacancy leaves one of the most public-facing jobs in the US government unfilled, and the episode drew unusual attention because the person Mr Trump floated for it runs a combat sports organisation rather than having any background in government communications. Mr White, 57, is a long-standing friend of the president, and his name being raised at all underlined how closely the two men's public profiles have become linked. The White House has not indicated who else might be considered for the job.
A social media appeal and a cage fight on the South Lawn
The sequence began at the weekend, when Mr Trump posted on social media urging Mr White to accept the role. "Dana, please take the job!" he wrote, describing the UFC executive as a "violent fighter and warrior," as reported by RTE.ie. The president also floated the idea of Mr White bringing several fighters along to serve as assistants, three of whom were not American.
Mr White's organisation had staged a cage fight on the White House South Lawn in June, timed to Mr Trump's 80th birthday. The UFC chief also shared a stage with the president during his re-election victory speech in 2024.
Asked about the approach while in London late on Saturday, Mr White gave little away, saying he would have more to say after meeting Mr Trump. CNN, citing a source, reported that Mr White had declined the offer.
How the president framed the joke
In his remarks on Sunday, Mr Trump pointed to the proposed fighter assistants as the clue that the invitation was not meant literally. He said the inclusion of fighters "from parts unknown" should have signalled to the public that he was joking. "Of course I was kidding, and you could see that because I put all of the great fighters as his assistants," he said, according to RTE.ie.
The president also confirmed that the meeting with Mr White was still going ahead on Monday. Coverage of the original offer was carried by outlets including the BBC, the Financial Times and The Guardian, with the BBC reporting the president's appeal to the UFC boss under the headline "'Dana, please take the job!'"
What the meeting between the two men produces, and whether the administration moves to name a permanent press secretary, is the next thing to watch.
