FIGHTING WORDS

Trump Makes Bonkers Admission About Press Secretary Fiasco

The president spilled on his unexpected job offer.

President Donald Trump has been cornered over his wild suggestion that UFC CEO Dana White could be his replacement press secretary.

Trump, 80, made the bizarre suggestion on his Truth Social account on Saturday, claiming he had offered his friend White, 57, the public-facing job that Katie Zacharia left after just five days.

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

The president also named, and shared photos of, six UFC fighters he suggested White could hire as his “assistants,” noting that some of them are “not from our Country,” to defend MAGA against the “Lunatic Left.” Trump previously recruited White to stage a UFC fight at the White House for his 80th birthday.

Trump’s post sparked online confusion over whether the president’s team had actually suggested Dana W. White, who previously worked as the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, for the White House job, instead.

However, Dana W. White promptly rejected the suggestion in a LinkedIn post addressing the confusion. “It is nice for once that, that Dana White is being confused with this Dana White,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, the UFC boss appeared to play down the possibility when asked about Trump’s post at a news conference on Saturday, saying he already had a “lot of jobs.” He said he was due to meet Trump at the White House on Monday.

Trump added to the speculation on Sunday by sharing a cartoon video depicting White as press secretary, flanked by UFC fighters who attack reporters during a mock White House briefing.

Speaking to reporters before flying out of Florida on Sunday to return to the White House, Trump was asked if he was “serious” or “kidding around” about recruiting the UFC CEO as his new spokesperson.

Trump began his explanation by pointing to the “rough faces” of the fighters on his Truth Social post.

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“You would have thought that people would have said, ‘He’s having a good time,’” Trump admitted. “I will tell you, I was only kidding.”

However, he insisted, “Dana loves the idea and there’s only one Dana. He’s great. I don’t know. He would be... you wouldn’t mess around with him so much. But so, I was kidding, of course.”

He then doubled down on his punchline, saying, “When you look at the fighters that I put in, that’s why I said some don’t come from our country. They come from parts unknown. They come from, uh, a lot of areas that are very rough areas.”

Trump’s list included two athletes from Russia’s Dagestan region, Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov and Amanda Nunes, a Brazilian native who became a U.S. citizen last year, as well as Americans Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier and “Kayla Harris,” which was most likely a reference to U.S. judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison.

“So I was kidding, but I think Dana likes the idea and he is a very capable guy... ”

He continued to explain the joke that many people missed, saying, “Of course I was kidding, and you could see that, because I put all of the great fighters as his assistants, that they’re all going to come with him. But uh, it was it was just a little fun.”

Trump said White would visit him in Washington on Monday for “other reasons,” adding that his post “was an example of something where I was kidding and then people said, ‘You know, that’s actually a pretty good idea’.”

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Trump did not name anyone who approved of his idea.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Isabelle D’Antonio reported that a source familiar with the matter said White had declined the offer.

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Talk show host and Trump foe Rosie O’Donnell seized on the president’s post before he clarified he was not serious.

“I thought this was fake — apparently it’s not—he [thinks] the UFC — run by Dana White is going to save his fetid a-- —#25thamendmentnow — he has lost his f---ing mind completely #gethimout,” she wrote on social media on Sunday, later posting it again, stating “Just gonna leave this here #dumba--.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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