Donald Trump is readying an initiative that could set the White House on another collision course with Los Angeles officials.
The president is set to announce a task force on the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles — with himself on top of the podium.
The White House has scheduled an Oval Office meeting tomorrow with a selection of athletes and members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to reveal the news, sources confirm. The includes having Trump in charge of the effort.
The White House sent a statement from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirming this news on Monday afternoon shortly after The Hollywood Reporter published.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,” she said. “The President considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term. Sports is one of President Trump’s greatest passions, and his athletic expertise, combined with his unmatched hospitality experience, will make these Olympic events the most exciting and memorable in history.”
Added Casey Wasserman, Chairperson and President of LA28, in a statement: “On behalf of LA28, I want to express our deep appreciation to President Trump and his Administration for their leadership and unwavering support as we prepare to deliver the largest and most ambitious Olympic and Paralympic Games ever hosted in the United States. Since we secured this historic opportunity in 2017, President Trump has consistently recognized the magnitude of our responsibility in welcoming the world to Los Angeles. The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028.”
While it’s certainly not unusual for the federal government to form an Olympics task force, such efforts tend to be run by law enforcement departments which provide public safety and security support. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service are already announced as involved with LA 28 — as is the norm when the Olympics are held stateside. Alternately, such government initiatives tend to be centered around securing Olympic bids or providing logistics.
This new effort is said to be an intergovernmental task force that will include several departments, including law enforcement. But Trump getting hands-on with the project could exasperate the fractured relationship between the Trump Administration and state and local leadership — a relationship which boiled over in June due to immigration raids in the city, with officials ranging from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass entering into a war of words with the president.
Since then, anti-ICE protesters — and even some in the media — have urged officials to cancel the Olympics outright due to the raids. Last week, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist argued, “Hosting an Olympic Games requires us to work together with a lawless U.S. regime — and its rights-violating security apparatus — as it openly wages war against our city and state.”
Yet Trump has a long history of supporting LA28. In 2020 during his first term, Trump declared, “From the day I took office, I’ve done everything in my power to make sure that L.A. achieved the winning bid” and boasted about the jobs and revenue that the Games would bring to the city. That same month, Trump met with Wasserman at Mar-a-Lago and reaffirmed his “unwavering commitment” to make sure the Games were the “greatest.” In June, Trump ordered a travel ban on 12 countries, yet provided exemptions to Olympic athletes, their coaches and relatives.
Trump has also exerted pressure on the Games. In January, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports and successfully pushed International Olympic Committee (IOC) to change its rules for LA28 to comply with the order.
During that first Olympics press conference five years ago, Trump said to Wasserman — a bit ironically, as it turns out: “I hope you remember me in 2028. At least give me a seat, OK?”
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