Stumped Players Have Awkward Trump Session

Instead of being allowed the usual preparation time before a match that evening, an Italian team of soccer stars was shepherded into the Oval Office on Wednesday to meet President Trump—a 16-minute session that covered Iran, the US Civil War, and transgender athletes and overall was, one player said, "a bit weird." The members of Juventus, along with executives and the president of FIFA, stood behind Trump, who was seated at his desk, while he took questions, the New York Times reports. "When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything," said Timothy Weah, an American, "it's kind of like, I just want to play football man."

One of the awkward bits began with Trump asking, "Could a woman make your team, fellas?" When no one answered, he put the question to the general manager, who said Juventus also has a good women's team. To which the president said, "But they should be playing with women." Turning back to the reporters, Trump said: "See? They're very diplomatic." After taking media questions about the Israel-Iran strikes, Trump was asked who he thought was running the White House when President Biden was in office, per the Washington Post. That led Trump to repeat his accusation that an autopen was used to sign documents and to ask the players, "You know we had an autopen president before me?"

The stumping went both ways: Trump encouraged the journalists to ask about the World Cup, but that's not the information the political reporters were looking for. No one involved could explain how the White House session came about. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was there, causing him to miss Real Madrid's match. He took a question from a reporter about whether the US travel bans are hurting attendance, to which Trump twice said, "He doesn't know what the travel ban is." Juventus—the men's team— won its evening game against Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal 5-0. In the post-game press conference, the whole episode resurfaced again when reporters asked the players about their White House visit. The FIFA moderator stepped in, saying and repeating when pressed that the questions should be about the game. (More President Trump stories.)