President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday establishing a task force for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which will be held in Los Angeles during his term.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding that the president would work to make the event “the most exciting and memorable in history.”
“The President considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” according to her statement Monday.
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The executive order creating the task force was first reported by Reuters.
Trump has been an enthusiastic booster for major international sporting events scheduled to occur in the US under his watch, boasting about both the Olympics and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“I got the World Cup and I have the Olympics and I did it,” Trump said at an event in Iowa in July.
Trump tapped a similar task force earlier this year for the World Cup that will be hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico next year, appointing Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — one of the president’s staunchest allies — to be its director.
What will the Olympics task force do?
That task force was established to coordinate departments and agencies across the federal government to assist in organizing and carrying out the World Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, a separate tournament that was held earlier this year.
Both the Olympics and the World Cup are expected to draw large numbers of spectators — as well as many international tourists — bringing logistical and security challenges. Some Trump administration critics have expressed concerns that his effort to crack down on undocumented immigration and restrict travel from some countries could complicate efforts to host those sporting events. Trump has promised he will facilitate travel and visa access for World Cup teams and supporters.
The president has regularly attended premier sporting events since his return to office, including the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, a UFC fight, the NCAA men’s wrestling championships and the FIFA Club World Cup final, which took place in New Jersey.
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And he often weighs in sports-world controversies. Trump blasted the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Olympics in Paris as “a disgrace” over a performance that some viewers believed to be a depiction of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” even though organizers denied there was a religious reference.
