WASHINGTON — The gold medal-winning US men’s Olympic hockey team met with President Trump inside the Oval Office on Tuesday – hours before the squad is set to attend the State of the Union address.
Winger Matthew Tkachuk let Trump don his gold medal during the celebration — after the president made good on his pledge to send a military aircraft to fly the team to DC.
“I’m not giving it back,” Trump joked as he put on the medal, which was met with laughter from Tkachuk’s teammates.
Only portions of the White House visit were posted online by Trump’s staff. Reporters and TV cameras were not present as the president polished up his annual speech to the nation.
Trump invited both the Olympic champion men and women’s hockey teams to his State of the Union address — sending officials scrambling to accommodate them in the always-packed House chamber.
The women’s team declined the invitation.
Due to the last-minute invite, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that they were racing to figure out the logistics.
“There’s no way to have special guests on the floor because it’s a literal session of Congress,” Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday. “But we’re going to work and do what we can to accommodate.”
The team, which defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in Milan on Sunday, will receive from Trump an inspirational shout-out as guests in the gallery — a tradition dating back to the Reagan administration.
Trump congratulated the team on the phone shortly after their big win.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who had just chugged a beer, wildly gesticulated and pounded a locker room table, put the boss on speaker phone.
The president invited the players to his big speech and put newfound superfan Patel in charge of making it happen, which he enthusiastically agreed to do.
The team departed Miami on board an Air Force plane Tuesday after returning from Italy and videos from their Instagram accounts show them taking the phrase “traveling party” literally.
The Olympic champions arrived back in South Florida from Milan on Monday afternoon and celebrated their achievement with a steak dinner, followed by partying the night away at famed Miami nightclub E11even.
