"Was Kidding": Trump On Offering Press Secretary Role To UFC Chief Dana White

President Donald Trump said he was "only kidding" when he offered the job of White House Press Secretary to UFC chief Dana White. 

Trump's comments to reporters in Florida before heading back to Washington resolved a 24-hour mystery over whether the president was serious when he asked White in a social media post on Saturday to "please take the job."

"I was only kidding," Trump said Sunday. "But it was an example of something where I was kidding, and then people said, you know, that's actually a pretty good idea."

Trump has been signaling that he plans to stand up to Democrats after the party won control of both chambers of Congress last week, notably by tapping Stephen Miller - the main architect of his hard-line immigration policies - as his new chief of staff.

Trump's last press secretary, Katie Zacharia, held the job for five days before she was pushed out.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that White, a close personal friend, would be in Washington on Monday "for other reasons" and would "come over and see me."

In his social media post on the mixed martial arts executive, Trump said he asked the "violent Fighter and Warrior" White to bring "assistants," attaching the names and photographs of famous fighters in the league to his social media post. Trump has previously joked about combat sports and the press corps. 

White, speaking Saturday at a news conference following a boxing event in the UK, said he was flying immediately to Washington, DC, to meet with Trump on Monday. 

"I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after that," he said. "I've got a lot of jobs already."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)