U.S. President Donald Trump publicly offered Dana White, president and CEO of the UFC, the post of White House press secretary. Trump posted the announcement on his social network Truth Social, calling White a "tough fighter and warrior" and asking him to take the job. It is unclear from the post whether the president was joking or speaking seriously, and there is no response from White accepting or rejecting the offer in the available materials.
Reports say Trump also asked White to bring along aides who would defend the administration in public. This wording indicates that the proposal concerned not only a personal position but also a broader task of defending the government's actions before the press and the public.
The offer came amid notable personnel changes at the White House. According to available information, Karoline Leavitt was removed from the post of press secretary in October. One source also mentions that the vacancy may have arisen after the departure of Karoline Leavitt, but there is no confirmed information about her status in the materials, and this point remains unclear.
The statement appeared shortly after Republicans' defeat in the midterm elections on Tuesday. This makes the appeal to an outside public figure to defend the administration especially notable against the backdrop of the party's political losses and changes in the press office. Reports of the offer were published by Deadline, the New York Post, Variety, PBS and, which agree on the main fact: Trump approached White with the proposal, and his reaction has not been confirmed.
White runs the UFC, one of the largest mixed martial arts organizations in the world, and has no experience in the federal executive branch. Therefore, any appointment of him to a post involving daily communication with journalists on behalf of the administration would be an unusual decision. For now, the question remains open: the available materials contain no official appointment or confirmation from the White House.