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Trump's press secretary: US President wants to fill post with martial artist
The post of Trump's press secretary has been vacant since mid-October. Now he wants to nominate an old friend for it: the martial artist Dana White. more...
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afp | US President Donald Trump has offered the vacant post of press spokesman in the White House to Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), who is his friend. “I am pleased to announce that the great Dana White, a violent fighter and warrior, has been offered the position of Press Secretary of the United States,” Trump wrote on his online service Truth Social on Saturday. “Dana, please take the job!”
Speaking to reporters after a boxing event in London on Saturday evening, White said he would fly to Washington and meet with Trump on Monday. “I’ll be able to say more about it after that,” he said.
The UFC boss previously published a photo - possibly AI-generated - on the online service Instagram that showed him behind the lectern in the press room of the White House. The caption says “On to the next chapter.”
The White House has been without a press secretary since October 16, after Katie Zacharia was forced to leave the position after less than a week on the job. White, 57, is president and CEO of the UFC, the largest and most successful organization in the world of mixed martial arts. The UFC's brutal cage fights are broadcast worldwide.
Trump also named six UFC fighters that he hopes White will bring to the White House as advisers, "even though some are not from our country." Two of the fighters mentioned are Russian, one is Brazilian. The White House also posted the news on one of its official accounts.
Trump and White are old friends. On Trump's 80th birthday in June, the UFC staged a bloody cage fight on the South Lawn of the White House. Since Trump's re-election, White has sat on Meta's board of directors, which many saw as a sign of the tech company's conservative orientation.