Las Vegas Packs Punch at White House, Thanks to Dana White

Debra Saunders on Apr 14, 2025

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's ties to Nevada penetrate beyond the high-brow donor class.

The latest moment showcasing his connections to the Silver State came during Thursday's Cabinet meeting. A reporter asked Trump about the release of Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina in a prisoner swap with Russia. Trump revealed that he investigated the case against the ballerina after Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White called him and asked him to look into the matter.

"Dana's an incredible guy," Trump said of the Las Vegas resident.

Apparently, White reached out to Trump on behalf of Karelina's fiance, South African boxer Chris van Heerden. Karelina's imprisonment was an outrage. Her crime, treason, the reason the dual citizen was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison last year, was a donation of some $50 to a charity that supported Ukraine's armed forces.

The Trump-White connection goes back decades. As White told the Republican National Convention in 2024, when UFC was getting started, "Nobody took us seriously. Nobody. Except Donald Trump."

And: "Donald was the first guy that recognized the potential that we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build the business."

Yes, White called Trump "Donald."

Trump has mined the Silver State for other talent. White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung previously worked for the UFC.

FBI Director Kash Patel lives in Las Vegas and reportedly flirted with moving FBI HQ to Sin City.

Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald told me he sees Vegas as the "White House West. We actually are the West Wing."

"He has a beautiful hotel here," McDonald added in a nod to the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas.

Sure, in his younger years, the late President John F. Kennedy hung out in Vegas with the Rat Pack, but Trump and fellow billionaire Phil Ruffin co-own the Vegas hotel with more than 1,200 rooms. Ruffin, by the way, told Forbes that he plans to die at his desk in his office at Treasure Island.

"Dana and the president are very close, and I think that's a great benefit for our state," noted Sig Rogich, the Las Vegan and longtime consultant who served as White House senior adviser to President George H.W. Bush. White could live anywhere in the world, Rogich told me, but he chooses to live in Las Vegas.

"I've always felt that Nevada was treated like a stepchild," Rogich added, but with White, Nevada's place in the Republican constellation is shining.

Rogich tells me White arranged for him to chat over the phone with Trump about land-use issues.

While Rogich did some work for Trump years ago, today he doesn't think anyone in Nevada is closer to Trump than White.

What does that mean for Nevadans? McDonald sees Trump's personal connections with residents leading to Trump's "No Taxes on Tips" proposal.

By the way, McDonald sees another role for White: "I think he'd be a great senator."

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

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