Donald Trump Tells Team USA Some White House Sports Guests He Just Wants 'Out of There'

President Donald Trump welcomed Team USA’s Winter Olympians and Paralympians to the White House, then admitted he is not always thrilled when sports teams come through the door.

The August 6 event honored U.S. athletes, coaches and staff after the Milano Cortina Games, where Team USA won 57 total medals across the Olympics and Paralympics, including a record 12 golds for the Olympic team. Rain moved the celebration from the Rose Garden to the East Room, and Trump later invited the athletes for an Oval Office visit.

That was where the president drew a distinction between this group and some other teams he has hosted.

“I don’t do this with too many other teams,” Trump said in a video posted by the White House on X later that night. “Most of them I just want to get out of there.”

“Some of them I like and some of them I don’t like so much. But they all come here,” he added.

The ceremony itself was built around Team USA’s record showing. The Olympic team brought home 33 medals including 12 golds, the most ever for the U.S. at a Winter Games outside North America. The Paralympic team added 24 medals, including 13 golds.

Trump singled out the sled hockey team for winning its fifth straight gold medal.

“Nobody’s ever done anything like it,” he said. According to the Associated Press, he also admired speedskater Jordan Stolz’s “very strong legs.”

“The women’s team and the men’s team — it was just incredible,” Trump said of the hockey teams, both of which defeated Canada in overtime.

The women’s hockey team had previously declined an invitation to Trump’s State of the Union address after his speakerphone call with the men’s team, during which he joked he would be impeached if he did not invite the women too. USA Hockey cited class and job obligations at the time.

Members of the women’s team, including forwards Joy Dunne and Abbey Murphy, attended the White House reception.

One athlete not on the guest list was freestyle halfpipe skier Hunter Hess, who had drawn Trump’s anger before the opening ceremony.

Asked about wearing the American flag, Hess said the moment brought “mixed emotions,” a comment widely read in connection with the recent shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.

Trump responded on Truth Social by calling Hess “a real Loser.” Hess later wrote on Instagram that the country had much to be proud of, while adding that “there are always things that could be better.”

After his qualifying run, Hess raised an L sign to his forehead and told reporters, “Apparently, I’m a loser.”