Stephen A. Smith denies Trump offered him job as White House press secretary

Stephen A. Smith says President Trump did not offer him White House press secretary job.

Sports broadcaster and podcast host Stephen A. Smith visited the White House Thursday to interview President Trump for his Straight Shooter podcast, prompting speculation that he was under consideration for the White House press secretary job, a notion Smith threw cold water on when speaking with reporters outside the White House.

When asked whether Trump discussed the press secretary job with him, Smith responded, "No."

Another reporter asked Smith directly, "Did he offer you it?"

"No way in hell," was the response from Smith as he walked away from news cameras.

Speculation has swirled in recent days over whom Trump might choose to lead the White House briefing room after his most recent pick, Katie Zacharia, flamed out after an historically short five days in the job last month. Fox News reported earlier this week that Trump was leaning toward appointing a man for the high-profile job. The last man to serve as White House press secretary was Sean Spicer in 2017, Trump's first press secretary. 

Fox News reported that conservative commentator Ben Ferguson was a leading candidate for the job and that even Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary under George W. Bush, was being considered, along with Scott Jennings, the CNN contributor, and Matthew Boyle, the top editor at Breitbart News. 

Smith said his interview with Trump lasted about 40 minutes and touched on a range of issues including the outcome of the midterm elections and Jensen Huang resigning as CEO of Nvidia on Thursday. Watch video of Smith talking with reporters below.