A member of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team said he was “caught by surprise” by the “weird” press conference President Donald Trump held for him and his Juventus teammates in the Oval Office.
The storied Italian soccer club was in Washington, D.C., for the FIFA Club World Cup and made a 15-minute appearance at the White House Wednesday afternoon.
The president introduced the two Juventus players who also play for the national U.S. men’s team—Tim Weah and Weston McKennie—and told journalists gathered in the Oval Office there would be a game that night. He then invited the reporters to ask questions about FIFA.
But the political journalists in the room were more interested in asking about Iran and other political topics, forcing the players to stand by awkwardly while Trump discussed missile strikes, travel bans, and women playing men’s sports.
Speaking to reporters after the Juventus game, Weah said the White House visit was a surprise.
“They told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,” the 25-year-old said, according to The Athletic. “I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it’s kind of like, I just want to play football man.”
Officials didn’t give an explanation for who organized the visit or why, but sources told The Athletic that the White House extended the invitation.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Exor chief John Elkann were also there and presented Trump with jerseys. Exor, which is a holding company controlled by the Elkann-Agnelli family, owns a majority stake in the club.
Elkann has met with Trump repeatedly in Washington as the chair of Stellantis—the automaker conglomerate that owns the Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep, and Maserati brands, among others—and traveled to Saudi Arabia with him in May, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Trump took a press pool question about former President Joe Biden’s administration and used it as an opportunity to grill the Juventus players on gender politics.
After claiming the “autopen” was running the Biden White House, Trump said, “He wasn’t making a decision… He was never for open borders and he was never for transgender for everybody, or men playing in women’s sports.”
The president then turned to the Juventus players and asked, “Could a woman make your team, fellas? Tell me, what do you think?” A couple of players seemed to shrug and say yes, prompting Trump to say, “You’re being nice,” and then direct the question to the team’s general manager, Damien Comolli.
Comolli tried to deflect, saying, “We have a very good women’s team.”
“But they should be playing with women,” Trump said. When nobody answered, he turned to the press pool and said, “See, they’re very diplomatic.”
The players then shuffled their feet and crossed their arms while the president answered questions about Iran and went on a tangent about the futility of war, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the American Civil War.
“You look right up there. I see the Declaration of Independence and I say, ‘I wonder if the Civil War—it always seemed to me that could have been solved without losing 600,000-plus people.’”
The Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War, not the Civil War, though Trump was basically right that an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 people died during the Civil War.
After the Juventus game, Weah told reporters it was his first time visiting the White House.
“I guess it was a cool experience being in the White House,” he said. “But I’m not one for the politics, so it wasn’t that exciting.”
His fellow U.S. Men’s National Team player McKennie also shook Trump’s hand during the visit. During Trump’s first term, McKennie had told a German media outlet that he didn’t support the president.
The post Athlete Sounds Off on ‘Weird’ Moment With Trump at the White House appeared first on The Daily Beast.
