Trump offers UFC chief Dana White press secretary job

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Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTU.S. President Donald Trump and UFC President and CEO Dana White walk out of the White House onto the South Lawn for the UFC Freedom 250 fight on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

President Donald Trump offered UFC president and CEO Dana White the job of press secretary on Saturday.

In a post on Truth Social, the president said the offer extended to White's assistants, "even though some are not from our Country."

"We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left," Trump wrote. "Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!"

Apparently in response to Trump's post, White posted a picture of himself on Instagram stories standing behind the press secretary's lectern in the White House, with the caption, "On to the next chapter." It was unclear whether White has accepted the position or is simply acknowledging the president's request in jest.

In October, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia left the press secretary position, just five days after her stint as Karole Levitt's replacement began.

The president told reporters he suggested Zacharia quit after her first and only press briefing where, in her six minutes answering questions behind the lectern, she only took questions from three conservative outlets.

"I just spoke to her about it. I said, 'Katie, is this for you?'" Trump said outside the White House on Oct. 16.

The president's appeal to White follows after Friday's announcement that Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, would be promoted to chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.

Trump's stunning shake-up comes just three days after Democrats won a landslide victory in the midterm elections, gaining majority control in the House and Senate.

The president and White have a longstanding friendship. During Trump's first campaign in 2016, White praised the then-Republican nominee and called him a "fighter."

"Nobody took us seriously. Nobody. Except Donald Trump. Donald was the first guy to recognize the potential we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build our business," White said.

And for his 80^th birthday in June, President Trump hosted a UFC match — dubbed UFC Freedom 250 — on the White House's South Lawn.  

The White House and the UFC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

— CNBC's Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.

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