Donald Trump Drops Clear 'Kidding' Reality Check on Dana White’s Political Role

President Donald Trump offered UFC CEO Dana White the White House press secretary job on Saturday and called it a joke the next day. 

The White House press secretary post has been vacant since Katie Zacharia left after just five days on the job. At the same time, the White House is making other big changes. Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles stepped down on Friday. The 80-year-old president tapped his longtime adviser Stephen Miller to take over the role starting Monday.

Because the press secretary job is still open, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, offering the role to the UFC boss. He called White a "warrior" and joked that he should bring UFC fighters with him to help handle the media.

While his post caused a lot of speculation online, Trump cleared the air on Sunday, telling reporters he was "only kidding" and just having some fun.

Donald Trump Calls Dana White Press Secretary Offer Just a Little Fun

Trump addressed the cryptic offer at the airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday before boarding Air Force One. He highlighted the assistants named in his Truth Social post. He called them some of the best wrestlers and UFC fighters in the world, specifically naming Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje

He added, "And you would have thought that people would have said, he's having a good time. I will tell you, I was only kidding. But Dana loves the idea. And there's only one Dana. He's great. I don't know. He would be, you wouldn't mess around with him so much.”

Fox News footage from the same stop shows Trump repeating the point: "Of course I was kidding. But Dana's actually coming tomorrow, for other reasons."

White and Trump share a deep, long-standing friendship. In fact, their latest partnership made history on June 14, when White brought UFC Freedom 250 to the White House South Lawn. The special night was put together to celebrate America's 250th anniversary and Trump's 80th birthday.

White reacted shortly after Trump posted. He shared an image on Instagram that appeared to be AI-generated, showing himself behind the podium in the White House briefing room. 

He also shared a screenshot to his story from Dana W. White -- a former Pentagon spokesperson whom the internet widely rumored was the actual intended nominee. In her post, she jokingly cleared up the mix-up, noting she prefers the Pentagon podium over the UFC octagon, prompting the UFC boss to praise her as a "class act."

The UFC CEO was in London on Saturday for a boxing event. He told reporters at the news conference that he would fly to Washington that night. Asked how he would balance the job with his current roles, White answered, "Yeah, I got a lot of jobs already."

He runs the UFC and Zuffa Boxing. He said he wants to take more Zuffa events around the world. He, however, declined to detail his conversations with Trump and said he would have more to say after Monday's meeting.