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Trump sets off bedlam in White House briefing room with UFC chief Dana White

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The Straits Times. (2026, November 10). Trump sets off bedlam in White House briefing room with UFC chief Dana White. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/trump-sets-off-bedlam-in-white-house-briefing-room-with-ufc-chief-dana-white

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The Straits Times · collected 2026-11-10 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

US President Donald Trump caused chaos in the White House briefing room on November 9 when he unexpectedly brought in Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as a guest. Despite earlier teasing about offering White the press secretary position, Trump used this occasion to joke that White could serve as press secretary if he wanted. However, White declined the offer and reiterated his lack of political ambitions, emphasizing his commitment to UFC events instead.
Written by AI on 2026-11-10, from this article's own text only.

AI analysis

Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 140455 · logged 2026-11-10

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
The Straits Times's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
unclustered
not grouped into a story yet
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-10 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Straits Times · 4771 article(s) · 5 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 5 correction(s)

Who wrote this

The Straits Times
3204 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
Global fossil fuel emissions are projected to fall slightly in 2026 due to the expansion of renewable energy and the oil price shock sparked by the Iran war, researchers said on Nov 10.
How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult AI generated JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu remains Israel’s prime minister when the new Parliament takes office on Nov 10 but its new, less friendly composition could make his life much more difficult. Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to move Israel to the centre, was given the mandate on Nov 8 by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, a complicated task as neither he nor Netanyahu command a majority. Until then Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, remains caretaker prime minister – but the new 120-member Parliament can still go to battle against him. The lack of a new government “does not infringe upon the Knesset’s prerogatives”, said Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute. Eisenkot has also warned military chiefs that Netanyahu does not have a mandate to resume war against Iran – although the statement was more about politics than the law, with Netanyahu still in charge of national security. Netanyahu’s bloc slipped to 53 seats in the new Parliament, down from the decisive 68 it commanded previously. Eisenkot’s core opposition bloc has fewer seats than Netanyahu at 48 but the new Parliament also has a record 19 lawmakers from Arab-majority parties that are vehemently opposed to Netanyahu and his hard-right government – although it remains unclear if Eisenkot will seek to work with Israeli-Arabs directly. Here are ways in which the new Parliament could turn on Netanyahu. Commission on Oct 7 attacks One of the opposition’s main campaign promises has been to set up a commission of inquiry to probe failures in the famously high-security country that allowed Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest ever day for Israel. While Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing on his part, his government has consistently opposed the creation of a national, independent commission of inquiry that would have broad investigative authority, with Netanyahu instead supporting a review by political appointees. Even before a new government is formed, the incoming Parliament could set up a special committee on the attack which would hand over its findings to an eventual commission of inquiry, Shapira said. Eisenkot declared after the election that forming a commission would be an immediate priority. Repealing Netanyahu-era laws
The spot on the podium where the presidential seal would normally hang was left vacant.
As a leading counterweight to AI sceptics, Huang has often dismissed fears of a bubble and challenged Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s apocalyptic warning that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.
The Senate voted 73-25 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, clearing the way for debate on legislation that would speed approvals for power plants, transmission lines, mines and other infrastructure projects while requiring large data centres to pay more of the costs of grid upgrades needed to serve them.
Trump says US will hold off on new Iran strikes after appeals from Middle East neighbours AI generated
In a court order after the hearing, Griffin said she found "reasonable cause to believe” that Markle may “suffer from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defence”.
The company’s board is assembling a committee of independent directors who will work with outside counsel to investigate reports of Huang being targeted for foreign intelligence.
Would you like to be press secretary of the United States of America?
The revelation could have far-reaching ramifications for Nvidia and Huang, one of the most prominent advocates for the global AI infrastructure rollout and for relaxing US chip restrictions on China.
Also by The Straits Times
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 3204 articles by The Straits Times →

Topics

Republican UFC WASHINGTON White House the White House

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 12× White PERSON · 10× UFC ORG · 5× White House ORG · 5× Dana White PERSON · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Karoline Leavitt PERSON · 1× Republican NORP · 1× WASHINGTON GPE · 1× the White House ORG · 1×

Narrative

Trump said on Nov 8 he was just teasing, but White came to the White House anyway to see the president. “Everyone please take a seat in the briefing room RIGHT NOW,” was a press assistant’s urgent instruction for reporters over the loudspeaker.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-10
The spot on the podium where the presidential seal would normally hang was left vacant.
2026-11-10 · The Straits Times
Trump sets off bedlam in White House briefing room with UFC chief Dana White · assertive framing

Claims (22 extracted, 1 hedged)

Trump sets off bedlam in White House briefing room with UFC chief Dana White AI generated asserted
Trump → set → White
US President Donald Trump set off a scramble in the White House press briefing room onNov 9 with an appearance so sudden that aides had no time to place the presidential seal on the podium. asserted
aides → set → podium
Trump was eager to show off UFC CEO Dana White, a close friend more comfortable with watching fighters bash each other in the Octagon than mixing it up with reporters. asserted
fighters → show → reporters
After heavy Republican losses in the midterm elections less than a week ago, Trump announced on Nov 7 that he had offered the White House press secretary job to White. asserted
he → announce → White
Trump said on Nov 8 he was just teasing, but White came to the White House anyway to see the president. “Everyone please take a seat in the briefing room RIGHT NOW,” was a press assistant’s urgent instruction for reporters over the loudspeaker. asserted
instruction → say → loudspeaker
The announcement set off a stampede among the press corps with TV technicians plugging in cables and setting up microphones. asserted
technicians → set → microphones
The spot on the podium where the presidential seal would normally hang was left vacant. asserted
seal → hang → podium
Appearing alongside White, Trump declared that White could be press secretary if he “would only take the job.” uncertain
he → appear → job
Trump has been searching for a press secretary since Karoline Leavitt left in August and her replacement, Katie Zacharia, was fired in October after a week. asserted
replacement → search → week
The only problem is he’ll talk for a little while and then he’s going to beat the hell out of you,” Trump joked. asserted
Trump → talk → you
Trump announced that a UFC fight this weekend at Madison Square Garden will feature “the two greatest women fighters of all time.” “How would I do against one of them?” Trump asked White. asserted
White → announce → them
“Would I do well?” asserted
I → do → ?
“I don’t think so,” White said. asserted
White → think → ?
White, who organised a series of UFC bouts on the White House grounds in June, made clear he had no desire to tussle with reporters. asserted
had → organise → reporters
“I have zero political aspirations,” said White, while nonetheless taking a few questions. asserted
White → have → questions
In his first four years in office, Trump was a regular presence in the White House briefing room but now, nearly halfway through his second term, he takes questions in other places. asserted
he → take → places
He has talked about moving the press corps out of the West Wing to a “less obnoxious location.” asserted
He → talk → location
After Trump took questions on Iran, Ukraine, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other topics, he turned back to White. asserted
he → take → White
“Would you like to be press secretary of the United States of America?” said Trump. asserted
Trump → like → America
“Would you like that, or do you just want to stay with that ridiculous UFC?” asserted
you → like → UFC
“Thanks for the offer, sir,” said White. asserted
White → say → offer
“I do not want to be in politics.” asserted
I → want → politics
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