Trump says he was ‘kidding’ about Dana White for press secretary

President Trump said on Sunday that he offered UFC CEO Dana White the White House press secretary role as a joke.

“I will tell you, I was only kidding,” Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida. “But Dana loves the idea, and there’s only one Dana, and he’s great.”

The president then appeared to reference either his original announcement or a cartoon video he posted to Truth Social earlier Sunday, which featured White and a number of UFC fighters in the White House briefing room. The video depicts the fighters attacking reporters.

“Of course, I was kidding. And you can see that, because they put all of the great fighters as his assistants, that they’re all gonna come with them. But it was, it was just a little fun,” Trump added, before noting that White would be arriving in Washington, D.C., Monday and planned to speak with the president about the role.

He announced White’s job offer in a Saturday Truth Social post , writing, “I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States.”

“I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris,” the president continued. “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left.”

The White House has yet to find a permanent replacement for Karoline Leavitt, who departed her role earlier this year.

Katie Zacharia, a political commentator, spent a short, controversial 5 days in the role, which ended after some accused Zacharia of misrepresenting her legal credentials.