Trump publicly asks UFC chief Dana White to be White House press secretary

US President Donald Trump has said he asked Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), to become White House press secretary, The Times of Israel reported from Washington. According to that report, Trump also urged White to bring a number of assistants with him into the role, "even though some are not from our country."

The appeal was made in public. The Jerusalem Post headlined its report with Trump's words "Please take the job", while the Israeli news site Ynet reported that Trump addressed White directly with "Dana, please!" and described the offer as an unusual one. Ynet quoted Trump as saying, in its Hebrew rendering, that the administration needs fighters against what he called the crazy left.

Who Dana White is

White heads the UFC, the best-known promotion in mixed martial arts, a combat sport that blends striking and grappling. Ynet described him as a close friend of Trump and one of the most influential figures in world sport, and said he has built a sports business worth billions. He is, according to the same report, an enthusiastic supporter of the president.

The relationship between the two men is a visible one. Photographs published alongside the reports show Trump and White together at an event called UFC Freedom 250, held on the South Lawn of the White House in June. The picture captions do not agree on the exact date: The Times of Israel's caption gives June 15, while The Jerusalem Post's gives June 14.

What a press secretary does

The White House press secretary is the president's principal spokesperson, the official who speaks for the administration to reporters and fields their questions on its behalf. The post is normally filled by someone with a background in politics or communications, which is part of why Ynet characterised a public offer to a sports promoter as out of the ordinary.

Ynet also noted that White has in the past ruled out the possibility of joining Trump's administration. None of the three reports carries a response from White to the latest offer.

The Israel angle

The story drew attention from Israeli outlets largely because of the people Trump suggested White should bring with him. According to Ynet, Trump asked that a line-up of martial arts stars accompany White as "assistants", among them two Muslim fighters who, the site said, attacked Israel following the October 7 massacre. Ynet did not name the two fighters in the material available, and did not specify what form their criticism of Israel took.

Trump's own phrasing, as reported by The Times of Israel, acknowledged that some of the assistants he had in mind are not American, but that report did not identify them either.

Ynet added a further detail relevant to readers concerned with antisemitism: White has previously clashed with a fighter who praised Hitler and denied the Holocaust. The report did not name that fighter or say when the confrontation took place.

How the reports differ

The three accounts agree on the core event: Trump publicly asked White to take the press secretary job. They differ mainly in emphasis. The Times of Israel focused on Trump's request that White bring assistants from outside the country. The Jerusalem Post led on Trump's plea for White to accept. Ynet supplied the most background, including White's earlier refusal to serve in government and the identity, in general terms, of the fighters Trump wanted to bring in.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports says whether White has accepted, declined or responded at all, or whether the offer is a formal appointment rather than a public invitation. They do not say where or in what format Trump made the remarks, and they do not name the two fighters Ynet says attacked Israel, nor what is to become of the current occupant of the press secretary role.