Trump says he was 'only kidding' about offering Dana White the press secretary job

As of 10:54 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was "only kidding" when he announced a day earlier that he had offered Ultimate Fighting Championship chief executive Dana White the job of White House press secretary.

"I will tell you, I was only kidding. But Dana loves the idea. And there's only one Dana. He's great," Trump told reporters, according to the BBC. "But, it was it was just a little fun."

The remarks walked back a Saturday post on Trump's Truth Social platform that had set off a day of speculation about who would fill one of the most visible jobs in the White House. The post is not an appointment, and no nomination or hiring has been announced.

Monday at the White House

On Sunday, Trump said White would still come to see him Monday, but for other reasons. "But Dana is actually coming tomorrow," Trump said, according to Fox News, adding that he believed White already planned to be in Washington. "I think he's going to be in Washington. So he's going to come over and see me," he said, as quoted by the BBC.

White had said Saturday that he planned to meet the president Monday, but he did not say whether he would take the job, the BBC reported. Asked about the offer at a news conference, White said he had a "lot of jobs already." "I'm sure we'll have something to talk about after that," he said of the meeting, according to the BBC.

On Monday, Trump made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room with White, NBC News reported. Trump said he thought he would have "a little fun" by bringing White out to take questions. At the end of the briefing, Trump jokingly offered him the job again. "Thank you for the offer, sir," White said. "I do not want to be in politics." "I am devastated to hear this," Trump replied, according to NBC News.

The Saturday post

In his Saturday post, Trump said he was "pleased to announce" that White "has been offered the job," and wrote, "Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other," the BBC reported. He named several current and former mixed martial arts fighters as would-be "assistants," including Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier and Amanda Nunes, according to Fox News. "Dana, please take the job!" Trump wrote.

Speaking to reporters Sunday on his way back to the White House from his Florida beach club, Trump pointed to the fighters as a sign that he was joking, The Guardian reported. "Of course, I was kidding. And you could see that because I put all of the great fighters as his assistants," Trump said, adding that reporters "wouldn't mess around with him so much." He said the post "was an example of something where I was kidding, and then people said, 'You know, that's actually a pretty good idea,'" but did not say who had backed the idea, The Guardian reported.

Why it matters

The press secretary post has been vacant since October, when Katie Zacharia left the job less than a week after taking over, the BBC and Fox News reported. Zacharia had succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who held the role from the start of Trump's second term. Asked on Oct. 23 about finding a replacement, Trump told reporters, "We're in no rush," according to Fox News.

White and Trump have known each other for decades, since Trump hosted UFC fights at his Atlantic City property, Fox News reported. White spoke in support of Trump at the Republican National Conventions in 2016, 2020 and 2024, the BBC reported, and the UFC staged an event on the White House South Lawn in June. Besides the UFC, White leads the slap-fighting league Power Slap and the promotion company Zuffa Boxing, and he sits on the board of Meta, according to the BBC. In November 2024, White told Sports Business Journal he had "no personal political aspirations," Fox News reported.