President Donald Trump said Nov. 8 that he was only kidding when he offered Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief Dana White the role of White House press secretary.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Nov. 7 that he had offered White the job and asked him to bring along assistants. The position has been vacant since Katie Zacharia left in mid-October, just five days after taking the role.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said White is “a very capable guy” and “loves the idea,” but added that he was not serious about White for the position.
“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. But it was just a little fun,” he said.
In his Truth Social post on Nov. 7, Trump described White as “a violent Fighter and Warrior” and suggested that he bring six current or former UFC champions as assistants.
Trump was an early supporter of mixed martial arts, hosting two UFC events at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 2001 and showing up in the front row for the fights. That started the president and White’s 25 years of friendship.
Sylvia Xu contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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