Trump offered the press secretary job to Dana White. White said no.
The UFC chief executive turned down an offer that the president made publicly on Truth Social Saturday, as the White House enters its third month searching for a permanent spokesperson after the midterm wipeout.
In brief
On Saturday afternoon, President Donald Trump went on Truth Social to announce that he had offered the most thankless communications job in American politics to a man whose main qualification is knowing how to run a press conference where somebody's face gets rearranged. CNN reported within hours, citing a source with direct knowledge, that Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had already turned him down.
White is now heading to Washington. Trump still has no press secretary.
What Trump said, word for word
Trump posted Saturday that he had offered the job to White, writing on Truth Social: "I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States."
Trump said he wanted White to bring along six fighters as "assistants, even though some are not from our Country," naming Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harrison. "We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left," he wrote. "Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!"
The post spread fast. By Saturday evening it had nearly half a million searches on Google. The question everyone had: was this serious?
One White House aide said Trump was joking about the offer, though the president's post came as he continued to search for a new press secretary following Karoline Leavitt's departure and Katie Zacharia's five-day stint in the role. White's own social media response did not exactly close the door. He 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."
Then, at a boxing event in London Saturday evening, the picture clarified. White said he was heading to Washington, D.C., that night and had a meeting scheduled with the president on Monday. Asked whether he could speak about conversations he had with Trump so far, White declined.
According to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, White had declined the offer.
How the White House lost three press secretaries in three months
The vacancy at the podium is not a punchline. It is the product of a genuinely chaotic stretch inside the West Wing, running parallel to the administration's worst electoral week in two years.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt left President Trump's administration at the end of August to spend more time with her family after the birth of her second child. Leavitt, 28, made history as the youngest-ever White House press secretary, and also the first woman to be pregnant in the high-pressure job. At just over 18 months, her tenure was the second-longest for a White House press secretary under Trump.
Trump's offer for White to join his administration came just weeks after the October 16 ouster of Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, whose five-day tenure marked a record speed for a press secretary to exit the post after Trump's first term saw Anthony Scaramucci fired after just 11 days in 2017. Trump fired Zacharia after one rocky briefing, making her stint as press secretary the shortest in history.
So: Leavitt out in August. Zacharia in and out in October. No permanent replacement as of November 8. The administration has been running its press operation through a rotating cast of deputies and communications aides in the weeks leading up to, and now immediately following, the midterms.
The midterm context: why the timing matters
Trump offered the job to White just days after Republicans were trounced in the midterm elections and several high-ranking administration officials announced their resignations. After Democratic victories in the recent congressional elections, the opposition party has pledged to launch investigations into the Trump administration.
That is the specific problem a press secretary will now inherit. Trump has struggled to find someone to fill a position he is personally invested in, a matter that has only become more important after Democrats won control of Congress and pledged to investigate his administration.
Likely probes include the Trump family's business and cryptocurrency dealings, government contracts involving Elon Musk, cuts to federal agencies, immigration enforcement, the conduct of the Iran war, and the handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Whoever stands at that podium will face a press corps sharpened by a Democratic majority, a hostile committee calendar, and a president who has already cycled through two spokespeople in less than ten weeks. It is, to put it plainly, a brutal assignment.
Who is Dana White, and why does Trump want him?
Dana Frederick White Jr., born July 28, 1969, in Manchester, Connecticut, is the president and chief executive officer of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a global mixed martial arts organization. In 2025, White's net worth was estimated at over $600 million by Forbes.
Originally a manager for UFC fighters, White alerted his friends Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta to the opportunity to purchase the UFC. The Fertittas bought the promotion for $2 million in 2001 and appointed White as its president. Under his stewardship, the UFC grew to be worth upward of $11 billion, according to Forbes.
His relationship with Trump runs even deeper than the business biography suggests. Trump and White have maintained an apparently close personal and professional relationship dating back roughly 25 years, when Trump hosted early UFC fights at his Atlantic City casino. White has spent years as one of Trump's most visible allies, speaking at the last three Republican National Conventions and helping the GOP make inroads with young male voters key to Trump's return to the White House.
The South Lawn connection is recent and literal. For his 80th birthday in June, Trump hosted a UFC match, dubbed UFC Freedom 250, on the White House's South Lawn. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the UFC held a historic mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House in June 2026. The weigh-ins took place at the Lincoln Memorial.
Trump has articulated, in his own terms, why White appeals to him. "He introduced me to people I never heard of, young kids," Trump said of White earlier this year. That demographic calculus is real. White has been a conduit to an audience of young men who consume combat sports, follow UFC social media, and do not read newspapers. As a communications asset, he is valuable. As a daily spokesman for a White House under congressional investigation, he would be something entirely different.
What the job actually requires
The White House press secretary does not just run the briefing room. The role requires constant coordination with the communications director, the chief of staff, and the relevant cabinet agencies on whatever the news cycle throws at the podium that day. It demands fluency in policy detail, legal exposure, and the specific rhythms of a press corps that has covered this administration through two terms.
White House communications director Steven Cheung reposted Trump's Truth Social message Saturday, adding, "Hell yeah! Do it, @DanaWhite!" That enthusiasm from inside the building has not, so far, been matched by the man himself.
White's public manner at UFC press conferences is combative and colorful, which is precisely the energy Trump described in his post. But the UFC podium and the Brady Briefing Room are different environments. At UFC events, White controls the format. The White House press corps does not follow the same rules.
The fighters Trump named as 'assistants'
The list Trump appended to his post is worth noting on its own terms. Trump said the job offer to White extended to his "assistants, even though some are not from our Country." The named assistants included current and former UFC fighters from countries such as Brazil and Russia. Nurmagomedov, from Dagestan, Russia, is widely considered the greatest lightweight of all time. Nunes, from Brazil, is a two-division champion. Makhachev currently holds the lightweight title. None of them, by any reading of the job description, would be assisting at the podium.
The list reads as Trump doing what Trump does: generating a visual, a headline, and a reaction. It worked on all three counts.
What happens Monday
The UFC chief executive and longtime Trump political supporter declined to discuss the offer but said he plans to meet with the president on Monday. That meeting, in Washington, will determine whether the offer morphs into something else, whether White takes a different role in the administration, or whether the president accepts the rejection and moves on to a more conventional candidate.
Trump remains without a chief spokesperson. The incoming Democratic-controlled Congress was already preparing its oversight agenda before the weekend's social media spectacle. Whoever walks into the briefing room first will face questions about those investigations from day one.
While one aide said Trump was joking about the offer, the president's post came as he continued to search for a new press secretary, a matter the White House has treated as an urgent priority.
White posted that photoshopped image of himself at the lectern. Then, hours later, the source told CNN he was not taking the job. The image is still on his Instagram.
Rodriquez Wright II is founder and editor-in-chief of Washington DC Magazine and founder of Leo Operations. Photographer, filmmaker, strategist and recording artist. NABJ member.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
