Trump asks UFC boss to be White House press secretary | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Dana White, the chief executive of the
2. 0:02Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC,
3. 0:05has reportedly declined an offer from
4. 0:08Donald Trump to be the White House press
5. 0:10secretary. In a truth social post in the
6. 0:13last few hours, the president said, "I'm
7. 0:15pleased to announce that the great Dana
8. 0:17White, a violent fighter and warrior,
9. 0:19has been offered the job of press
10. 0:21secretary of the United States. I have
11. 0:23requested that he bring with him
12. 0:26assistance even though some are not from
13. 0:29our country. Well, President Trump then
14. 0:31lists a few of the top UFC fighters. He
15. 0:34goes on to say, "We need these people to
16. 0:36defend us against the lunatic left."
17. 0:39Dana will be a press secretary like no
18. 0:43other. Dana, please take the job
19. 0:45exclamation mark. Just uh one snag
20. 0:49because according to US media, Dana
21. 0:52White has said no. Right, let's cross
22. 0:54over to Washington. My colleague Carl
23. 0:56Nasman joins us live now. Right, he's
24. 1:00not having a great time, is he?
25. 1:01Following the midterms blue Nami this
26. 1:04now it actually shocked people Carl in
27. 1:08Washington. Just bring us up to speed
28. 1:10with what on earth is going on.
29. 1:12>> Yeah, I think pretty shocking for people
30. 1:13in Washington, people outside of
31. 1:15Washington as well. And again, I think
32. 1:17it's important to say we just don't know
33. 1:18how serious this offer was from the
34. 1:20beginning. This is all coming from that
35. 1:22post on Truth Social from the president
36. 1:24that you read there and saying, you
37. 1:25know, Dana, please take the job. So
38. 1:28maybe a job offer on the table there.
39. 1:30And then we saw Dana White himself
40. 1:31actually posting on his Instagram, a
41. 1:33picture of himself behind that famous
42. 1:36podium in the White House briefing room.
43. 1:38It appeared that that might have been an
44. 1:39artificial intelligence or an AI
45. 1:42generated uh image of him. But, you
46. 1:44know, according to reporting from CNN
47. 1:47here in the US, Dana White has declined
48. 1:49that offer. And, you know, there are
49. 1:51plenty of links between the two, um, you
50. 1:53know, besides being the CEO of the UFC,
51. 1:56Dana White is a strong and longtime
52. 1:58friend of President Trump. You might
53. 2:00remember back in June, he helped to
54. 2:02stage this big cage match fight on the
55. 2:05White House lawn, something that cost
56. 2:07about $60 million to honor President
57. 2:10Trump's birthday and also the 250th
58. 2:12birthday of the United States. Um, but
59. 2:14yeah, I mean I think maybe Dana White
60. 2:16knows and you know, you could ask Katie
61. 2:18Zachariah this that this is a really
62. 2:20difficult job. The last press secretary,
63. 2:23Katie Zachariah, lasted less than a week
64. 2:25in that role. Um, so maybe no matter,
65. 2:29you know, how loyal you are to President
66. 2:30Trump, this might be a job at this
67. 2:32point, especially after the midterm
68. 2:34results, might be one that, you know, a
69. 2:36lot of people would say no, even if that
70. 2:37offer uh is real.
71. 2:39>> Well, okay. So we we're not 100% sure
72. 2:42whether it's a real offer or or not, but
73. 2:45just even this idea that he that Donald
74. 2:47Trump posts this on True Social, what
75. 2:49does this Carl say about the White
76. 2:51House, how their approach is going to be
77. 2:53over the next two years following the
78. 2:56midterms especially?
79. 2:58Yeah, it definitely appears that
80. 2:59President Trump wants people in his
81. 3:02administration right now that he sees as
82. 3:04fighters, people who will help him to
83. 3:06counter the Democrats who are now coming
84. 3:08into power in the House and the Senate
85. 3:10in Washington. And maybe rather than
86. 3:12moderating his message and moderating
87. 3:13his policies, the president could be
88. 3:15looking to continue to advance them,
89. 3:17potentially even double down on those.
90. 3:19And I think one of the biggest signals
91. 3:20of that is the appointment of Steven
92. 3:22Miller as his new White House chief of
93. 3:25staff, replacing Susie Wilds. And Miller
94. 3:27is a longtime aid and adviser to
95. 3:30President Trump. And really, he's the
96. 3:31architect of a lot of these more
97. 3:34controversial policies that we have seen
98. 3:35the White House put in, especially uh
99. 3:37the mass deportations, some of the moves
100. 3:40to consolidate power within the
101. 3:41executive branch here in the United
102. 3:43States. And so, you know, bringing him
103. 3:45in is really a polarizing move. We've
104. 3:47heard some Republicans speaking out
105. 3:49against the appointment of Steven
106. 3:50Miller. We've heard Democrats, of
107. 3:51course, speaking out. But I think
108. 3:53important to say there are many MAGA
109. 3:55Republicans, including Steve Bannon, a
110. 3:57former adviser to President Trump, who
111. 3:59say, you know, maybe one of the reasons
112. 4:00why the Republicans performed so poorly
113. 4:03was because the White House didn't go
114. 4:04far enough with some of these promises
115. 4:06that President Trump made, maybe the
116. 4:08mass deportation movement didn't go far
117. 4:10enough. So, this could be seen as
118. 4:12doubling down and really playing to that
119. 4:14MAGA base here. Meanwhile, Democrats
120. 4:17coming to Washington. They have power
121. 4:18now in the House and the Senate. They'll
122. 4:20be here next year and of course they'll
123. 4:21be looking to try to reel in some of
124. 4:23President Trump's policies.
125. 4:25>> Oh, they will indeed. Carl, as always,
126. 4:27great to see you. Thanks for just
127. 4:29talking us through it. Carl Nasman.
128. 4:30They're joining us live from