UFC boss Dana White on Monday officially declined President Trump’s offer to serve as the next White House press secretary, but only after standing at the podium in the White House briefing room and fielding questions from reporters.
“Thank you for the offer. I do not want to be in politics right now,” he said, standing alongside Mr. Trump in the briefing room for a hastily called press conference.
“I am devastated to hear this,” Mr. Trump jokingly responded.
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Mr. White is the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a longtime friend of Mr. Trump.
Standing at the briefing room podium, Mr. White said his life has been “insane” since Mr. Trump floated the idea on Saturday. Mr. White said he has “zero political aspirations.”
He fielded two questions:
• Who would win in a UFC cage match between Mr. Trump and former President Biden?
Mr. White called the current president “the toughest, most resilient human being I’ve met in my entire life.”
• Would the president approve a posthumous pardon for disgraced baseball star Pete Rose?
Mr. White said he doesn’t advise the president on anything, but said it would be “fair” to pardon Rose, who died in 2024.
Mr. Trump touched off a firestorm when he wrote on social media Saturday that Mr. White had been offered the job of press secretary.
The next day, Mr. Trump said the comments were “just a little fun.”
“I will tell you, I was only kidding,” he said Sunday. “Dana loves the idea, and there’s only one Dana. You wouldn’t mess around with him.”
Mr. Trump has been without a press secretary since mid-October, when Katie Zacharia was fired after just five days on the job.
He picked Ms. Zacharia to replace Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August, shortly after returning from maternity leave. She said she wanted to spend more time with her family.
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