[Video] Follow-Up: Trump Says He Was Only Kidding About Offering Dana White the Press Secretary Job, Monday Meeting Is About Other Matters

President Donald Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, November 8, that his post a day earlier offering the White House press secretary job to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief executive Dana White was only a joke, not a genuine offer. Trump said White himself "loves the idea" of the role, but that he, Trump, "was kidding" about the appointment. The two will still meet at the White House on Monday, November 9, but Trump said the meeting was planned for other reasons.

According to Reuters, Trump described the post as "just a little fun" and said that attaching photographs of prominent UFC fighters as prospective assistants to White was part of the joke. The remarks amount to the president himself withdrawing the public offer he had made the day before: the press secretary vacancy has not been filled by this episode, and White will not take the job through this post.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, November 7, Trump said he had offered White the job of White House press secretary and had asked him to bring fighters including Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov as assistants, closing with "Dana, please take the job!" Reuters and other outlets reported the post the same day, and GSM published it at the level of a public offer, noting that it was unclear whether it had been made in jest.

Asked about the offer at an event in London on Saturday, White said only that he was flying to Washington and would have more to say after meeting Trump on Monday; he neither publicly accepted nor publicly declined. CNN had earlier cited a single anonymous source saying White had declined, and Trump's own clarification on Sunday now provides the president's account of the episode. As of publication, White had issued no new public response to Trump's latest remarks, and neither the White House nor the UFC had released a formal announcement.

The press secretary post has been vacant since October 16, when Katie Zacharia left after just five days in the job; Trump has since said he was in no hurry to fill it. On November 6, Trump announced that Stephen Miller would replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, effective November 9. (Source: Donald Trump)

Related:

Trump Offers Dana White the White House Press Secretary Job and Asks Him to Bring Fighters as Assistants

Trump Names Stephen Miller White House Chief of Staff, Replacing Susie Wiles

Source: Donald Trump

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：白宫北立面全景（北草坪正面）。照片：Aaron Zhu 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，Wikimedia Commons。The White House north facade from the North Lawn (photo by Aaron Zhu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

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