Trump calls Dana White press secretary offer a joke
Trump’s Sunday statement followed White’s public account of a planned Monday meeting. A visit is not an appointment announcement.
President Donald Trump said on November 8 that his offer to make UFC chief Dana White the White House press secretary had been a joke, AP reported from Florida. White’s own public response a day earlier had described a planned meeting, without announcing that he had accepted the job. [1][2]
In Zuffa Boxing’s original London press-conference video, White said he was flying to Washington and had a meeting with Trump on Monday. Asked about their conversations, he deferred further discussion until after that meeting. The relevant transcript passage runs from 24:30 to 25:35. [2]
The two accounts distinguish an announced visit from an appointment. Trump’s later description recasts the offer as humour; White’s answer supplies a next step rather than an acceptance. AP still reported a Monday White House visit. The reviewed evidence does not establish the meeting’s outcome or that White will take the post. [1][2]
Photo credits
Daniel Torok / White House · U.S. federal government public domain · Resized/compressed; social crop and EWN layout. No endorsement implied. · Archive portrait released 2 June 2025; exact capture date/place not established. Not the November 7 press conference or November 8 remarks. · Licence
Sources & context · 2
- Associated Press / Michelle L. Price
Own Florida reporting: Trump on November 8 called the offer a joke; a Monday visit remained planned. Updated November 8 at 7:20 PM EST; original publication time not established.
- Zuffa Boxing / original press conference
Original November 7 stream linked directly by UFC.com/video/161710. Only transcript 24:30–25:35 and a frame at 24:47 inspected; White described a Washington trip and Monday meeting. No full-video or audio review claimed.