President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to establish a White House task force to coordinate the federal government’s preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, using the occasion to rail against transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports.
The task force is a mirror image of a similar group overseeing the federal preparations for next year’s World Cup in the United States. The group is meant to centralize all the various planning operations that will need to work in sync to make a massive event like the Olympics go smoothly. But even while touting the unifying spirit of the Olympics, Trump delved deep into the culture wars around sports that he said were a key part of his 2024 presidential campaign.
A few minutes into the event, Trump thanked Gene Sykes – the president and chairman of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee – for the group’s pledge to follow a Trump administration order by banning transgender women athletes in an update to the organization’s athlete safety policy. The change was a part of a 27-page document released last month that made reference to the committee’s compliance with Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, which was issued in February.
“The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics. So, we appreciate the fairness and everything else that you’ve shown,” Trump said to Sykes.
Later, Trump was asked by a reporter if he would direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute any transgender athletes participating in women’s sports, referring especially to the women’s boxing competition.
At the Paris Olympics last year, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won the gold medal amid scrutiny over her gender after a previous governing body – the International Boxing Association – disqualified her and another Taiwanese boxer from competition after alleging they failed an eligibility test. Khelif has repeatedly said that she is not transgender and Olympic officials said repeatedly through the Games that she is, and always has been, a woman. Still, that has not stopped Trump and other critics from repeatedly referring to her as a man and using her gold medal victory as a talking point in stump speeches.
The president demurred over the idea of prosecuting any transgender athlete who takes part in women’s competitions, saying he expects “a very strong form of testing.”
“As far as charges, I’d have to ask the attorney general about that. I don’t know, but there will be a very, very strong form of testing, and if the test doesn’t come out appropriately, they won’t be in the Olympics,” he said.
The testing will be put in place by the world governing bodies of each sport. Some of those governing bodies, such as World Athletics, have already announced plans for one-time genetic testing of athletes looking to compete in female competitions. World Boxing announced plans for genetic testing, specifically mentioning Khelif in their announcement – something for which they later apologized.
Trump said he thought the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee would have cracked down on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports even without his influence.
“They probably would have because it just seems to be an issue that most people feel should be,” Trump said.
The president added that he feels very strongly about the issue and made it a central message of his campaign, saying his presidential run was based “partially on that.”
While Trump was complimentary of Casey Wasserman, the chair of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic Games, slammed the California Democratic politicians who will also be working to ensure the event goes smoothly. He name-checked Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, attacking the governor for his approach to wildfires in the state and how California uses its water – and Bass over the approval process for building permits after wildfires devastated parts of the city earlier this year.
The president promised to use the National Guard and military to provide security at the Olympics, if necessary. It’s not unusual for massive security reinforcements to provide security for the Games; in Paris, police from all parts of Europe were present on the streets of the City of Lights as part of the security operation.
“This is going to be so safe, and – if we have to – because obviously you have a mayor that is not very competent,” Trump said.
The president himself is the chairman of the task force and Vice President JD Vance will serve as vice chair. The Olympic Games are a point of pride for Trump and he has reveled in the fact that the quadrennial event, along with next year’s World Cup and this year’s Ryder Cup, will take place in the US during his second term in office.
He promised to mobilize “the entire federal government to ensure the games are safe, seamless and historically successful. It’s going to be amazing. I think it’s going to be amazing. America is a nation of champions, and in July 2028 we’ll show the world what America does best, and that’s when we’re winning like we have never won before.”
