US President Donald Trump has backtracked on his offer of the vacant White House press secretary role to Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, saying he was “only kidding”.
Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One in Florida on Sunday evening, local time, Mr Trump said he still expected to speak with Mr White on Monday.
US President Donald Trump has backtracked on his White House press secretary job offer to UFC boss Dana White. (Reuters: Eric Lee)
Mr Trump also said he believed Mr White “loves the idea” of the job offer.
In his initial Truth Social post on Saturday, local time, Mr Trump described Mr White as “a violent Fighter and Warrior” and said he could appoint several well-known UFC stars as his assistants.
Donald Trump’s original Truth Social post in which he announced the offering of a White House posting to Dana White. (Supplied: Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump)
On the tarmac in Florida a day later, the president said the nature of the post was a sign it was a joke.
He then told reporters that he was kidding five consecutive times in the same address.
Dana White has become a long-time ally of Donald Trump, who is known to frequently attend UFC championship bouts across the US. (Reuters: Supplied/Amber Searls/Imagn Images)
“If you saw the assistants, I posted the greatest wrestlers and UFC fighters in the world, right? Like Khabib, like Justin Gaethje who’s phenomenal … You would’ve thought that people would’ve said, ‘He’s having a good time,'” Mr Trump said.
“I was only kidding, but Dana loves the idea and there’s only one Dana … It was just a little fun.
“This was an example of something where I was kidding.”
Of the six current or former UFC titleholders Mr Trump named in his post, two were athletes from Russia’s Dagestan region: Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
After Mr Trump’s Truth Social post, Mr White posted his own image that appeared to show him standing at a White House lectern in the press briefing room, with a caption that read: “On to the next chapter.”
The reaction image posted on social media by Dana White. (Supplied: Dana White)
The pair have forged a close working relationship over more than 20 years since the early 2000s, when Mr Trump’s Taj Mahal casino hosted UFC events.
Mr White has also previously spoken at Republican National Conventions in 2016, 2020 and 2024, and co-hosted the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of the White House with Mr Trump in June.
Before to Mr Trump’s comments in Florida, Politico’s White House correspondent Daniel Lippman told ABC NewsRadio he did not believe in the legitimacy of the job offer.
“Usually Trump, when he puts something on social media, he doesn’t really joke around that much, he doesn’t have a big joke gene … I’m putting my money that this is not real and Trump is just trying to troll and stay in the media,” he said.
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Mr Lippman said Mr White, who has an estimated net worth of more than $US600 million according to Forbes, would need to take “a big pay cut” to enter the Trump administration.
He also questioned whether Mr White would have the political experience and knowledge necessary to be a successful White House staffer.
“Trump does want a fighter for his next press secretary, especially as Democrats control Capitol Hill and they will be hounding him,” he said.
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“Maybe [Mr White] just wouldn’t have press briefings and he would just be more of a symbolic head of the White House press office.”
The White House press secretary posting has remained vacant for close to a month after Katie Zacharia left the position less than a week into the role.
Mr Trump’s post about Mr White came a day after he announced that his chief of staff Susie Wiles would be replaced by her hardline deputy Stephen Miller.
On Sunday, local time, CBS News reported that a day after his appointment, Mr Miller revealed Richard Walters — a known ally of Ms Wiles who had replaced Mr Miller as deputy chief of staff — would be leaving the role.
“While he will be leaving us, Richard will continue to help from the outside as we continue to work with all of our strength to deliver for President Trump and his courageous fight to save America,” Mr Miller said, according to CBS News.
The series of White House appointment changes comes days after the Trump administration and Republican Party suffered deep losses in nationwide midterm elections.
The GOP lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate to the Democrats.
ABC/Reuters