Trump holds surprise briefing with UFC chief Dana White, offers press secretary role

President Trump convened an unannounced press briefing on Monday, bringing UFC chief Dana White into the White House press room. Trump said White had been floated as a possible press secretary and noted, "One thing about him, he doesn’t play games, because I’ve known him a long time."

White, who has organized a UFC event on the White House lawn, took the podium and clarified that he has no political aspirations. He answered a question from Lindell TV correspondent Cara Castronuova about a hypothetical Octagon match with former President Joe Biden, describing such a scenario as "very bad" for Biden.

When asked about a potential pardon for the late baseball player Pete Rose, White said, "I think it’s fair to pardon Pete Rose," and Trump agreed, adding that Rose had been "mistreated."

Trump explained that he had floated White for the press secretary position because of a difficult press day, saying, "I sent it to a group of the press, and that was it. I was sort of kidding, and then they wrote the stories as though I wasn’t kidding."

At the close of the briefing, Trump asked White directly if he would accept the role of press secretary of the United States of America. White declined, stating he does not want to be in politics, after which Trump said he was "devastated to hear this" and ended the session.