Trump Appears With Dana White After “Kidding” Over Press Secretary Role; POTUS Defends Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Calls Midterm Results “Ridiculous”

Donald Trump surprised reporters on Monday with an appearance in the White House briefing room along with UFC CEO Dana White, the source of much speculation after the president posted over the weekend that he had offered him the job of press secretary. Once again, Trump said that he was “sort of kidding,” but just to make sure, he asked White in front of the room full of reporters, “Would you like to be press secretary of the United States of America? … Would you like that, or do you just want to stay with this ridiculous UFC?” White answered, “Thank you for the offer, sir. Really…I do not want to be in politics.” “I am devastated to hear this,” Trump said. Watch on Deadline Trump said that he was having a “very bad press day” on Saturday and “I said, I don’t know hy. I thought of his name. He’s been a friend of mine for a long time. I said you know I think I’m going to get Dana White to be my new press secretary.” “We thought to have a little fun, and we brought Dana here,” Trump said. Trump took questions from the press for about a half an hour, including on the war in Iran and the potential impeachment of his secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked him whether he would stand by Hegseth if that happened, and Trump responded, “I’ll stand by.” But when she asked him about remarks made by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who introduced articles of impeachment on Monday, Trump said, “Massie’s a loser, just like you’re a loser at CNN.” He also called the midterm results “ridiculous” and said that the Democrats’ rout was “almost hard to believe.” Earlier in the day, he had posted on Truth Social, “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest. How could the Polls be so wrong???” On election night, Trump appeared to accept the results and congratulated Democrats, but in the days since then, he has questioned the results in his own message and in reposts. Trump also defended Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, who confirmed that he had an affair with a woman who is alleged to be a Chinese agent. “I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” Trump said. He said that he talked to Huang on Monday. “I did speak to him today just to see if he’s feeling all right…and I asked him about that and he said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy. …I really believe him.” White did get time at the White House briefing room lectern to answer a few questions from reporters, including one who asked him to size up who would prevail in a UFC fight between Trump and Joe Biden. (He of course answered Trump). Another reporter asked him what his advice would be to Trump about a potential pardon for Pete Rose, who died in 2024. “I don’t advise the president on anything, everr, but year, I think it’s fair,” White said. Trump asked why Rose would need a pardon, but then was reminded that he plead guilty to tax charges. “I’d give Pete Rose a pardon,” Trump said. “I think Pete Rose was very mistreated.” Trump has yet to name a new press secretary.