Trump taps Andrew Giuliani to lead 2026 World Cup task force
Trump taps Andrew Giuliani to lead 2026 World Cup task force
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Trump, Carney debate annexing Canada as 51st state
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump debated annexing Canada as 51st state during a White House visit.
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump named Andrew Giuliani, son of close Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, executive director of the president's task force on the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the U.S. prepares to host to the international event.
"I've known him for a long time. He's a highly competitive golfer ‒ which I mean, really good ‒ and he's also a highly competitive person," Trump said, introducing Andrew Giuliani to the post during a May 6 task force meeting at the White House featuring FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Andrew Giuliani, who worked as a White House aide during Trump's first term, lost the 2022 Republican primary for New York governor to Lee Zeldin, who went on to lose to Gov. Kathy Hochul in the general election.
Giuliani's father, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is a longtime Trump associate who was indicted in Georgia and Arizona for his role in helping Trump try to overturn the 2020 election results. Rudy Giuliani has pleaded not guilty.
More: FIFA says World Cup, Club World Cup could bring $47B in economic impact to US
The World Cup task force, chaired by Trump with Vice President JD Vance as the vice chair, includes other members of Trump's Cabinet. The group, created by a March 7 executive order, has been tasked with assisting on the planning, organization and execution of events surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which begins in June.
The United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994. The 2026 World Cup of 48 national teams will bring 78 matches to 11 host cities in the U.S. The tournament will consist of 104 matches overall across North America, with additional games set for Canada and Mexico.
"One hundred and four games, Mr. President. One hundred and four Super Bowls in one month, " Infantino said to Trump said. "We'll have 6 billion viewers. The final alone will attract between two and three billion viewers. This is 15 times more than the Super Bowl."
More: Lionel Messi is thinking about playing in 2026 World Cup. Here's what he said.
The inaugural 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, featuring 32 soccer clubs from across the world competing in 63 matches, begins June 14 in Miami. Ten additional U.S. cities will host matches, with the finals set for July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
"These events will attract millions of passionate fans around the world, including my son," Trump said, referring to his 19-year-old son, Barron Trump. "This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the beauty and the greatness of America, and we can't wait to welcome soccer fans from all over the globe."
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
16 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
US Deploys Marines to LA, Trump Says China 'Not Easy' in Trade Talks
The Trump administration escalated its response to anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles with the mobilization of 700 Marines, deploying active-duty military on the ground and increasing tensions with California officials. Demonstrators rallied in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, and other major American cities as anti-ICE protests intensified. Trade talks between the US and China will continue into a second day, according to a US official, as the two sides look to ease tensions over shipments of technology and rare earth elements. 'We are doing well with China. China's not easy,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. 'I'm only getting good reports.' The Opening Trade has everything you need to know as markets open across Europe. With analysis you won't find anywhere else, we break down the biggest stories of the day and speak to top guests who have skin in the game. Hosted by Anna Edwards and Guy Johnson. (Source: Bloomberg)
Wall Street Journal
23 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Justice Department Resumes Foreign-Bribery Work But Cuts Cases After Trump's Pause
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department will resume investigating foreign-bribery cases with a narrowed focus on matters that relate to U.S. strategic interests, including buttressing the ability of American firms to compete for business overseas. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the changes after a four-month review triggered by President Trump's order earlier this year freezing corruption investigations. Trump said at the time that enforcement of a federal antibribery law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, puts American firms at a disadvantage to foreign rivals that can engage in conduct forbidden in the U.S.
Washington Post
24 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump got shipped off to military school. Now we all pay the price.
Young Donald Trump was anything but happy to be sent to military school. His father, Fred, had had it up to here with his son's disobedience. Trump was 13 and being shipped to New York Military Academy, a boarding school about an hour north of the city, near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. From the moment Trump arrived in 1959, a stocky teen suddenly stripped of the conveniences of wealth, he was looking for a lifeline, scrambling for something he could master. Trump was never going to be a stellar student. He played on sports teams and did well, but he found his true home by mastering military rituals and discipline. He had no interest in going to actual war — he managed to win four deferments and a medical waiver to avoid service during the Vietnam conflict — but he was drawn to the school's strict rules and instant accountability. He liked setting the pace for other cadets, he liked putting on white gloves and full-dress uniform, and he loved the pageantry — especially the parades. And so, six decades later, on Saturday, we will all get a hefty dose of Trump's boyhood fantasy of military showmanship. This combined 79th birthday party and wild ego trip — a wayward president's version of an aging dad buying the red sports car — could cost taxpayers up to $45 million and threatens to rip the District's streets to smithereens. Just as Trump did in high school, when he was put in charge of a special NYMA drill team to march in New York City's Columbus Day parade, now, as leader of the vaguely free world, he will star as drillmaster in chief. There will be tanks! Men in lockstep! Helicopters! The Army's Golden Knights parachuting down to the Ellipse to present an American flag to El Presidente himself! It's a grand old American tradition to put a fair amount of energy into living out high school fantasies, but this is ridiculous. It is also thoroughly in character for Trump. As a child, Trump, by his own account, was something of a terror. He has boasted that he once gave a teacher in elementary school a black eye. He defied his father's directive to stay in Queens, instead sneaking onto the subway with a friend to buy switchblades in Manhattan. But his father had the last word: Off to NYMA with you. By all accounts, Trump's start at military school was rough. There was no family cook, no private bathroom, no mother to excuse his misbehavior. Instead, he lived in boot-camp-style barracks, marched on the 300-acre campus's sprawling parade grounds and learned to obey the adults — or else. Trump was just one more plebe, one more subject to the drill sergeant, Theodore Dobias — known as 'Doby.' Dobias smacked students with his open hand if they committed an infraction. He ordered misbehaving cadets to fight each other. He rode Trump hard, pushing the rich kid from Queens to make his bed, shine his shoes, clean the sink. Trump studied Dobias's tactics and adopted many as his own, his classmates said. Trump loved wielding authority — one student called him 'Mr. Meticulous' — and when Trump became a junior supply sergeant in Company E, he relished ordering punishments for younger cadets. When one student broke formation, Trump allegedly delivered whacks on the rear with a broomstick. When another boy left his bed unmade, the young disciplinarian tore the sheets off the bed, threw them on the floor and fought the boy, trying to push him out a second-story window, the former schoolmate, Ted Levine, told The Post years later. That Columbus Day parade in 1963 was in many ways a culmination of Trump's military career. He was in charge, front and center, back on his home turf. But when the NYMA boys got to Fifth Avenue — passing exactly the spot where the developer's son would one day build his own Trump Tower — they saw a group of Catholic schoolgirls were lined up to lead the parade. Trump had been told his contingent was going to be in front. 'Leave this to me,' Trump told Dobias. He went and found someone in charge, had a little talk and came back victorious. He led the parade. It made him feel large. Many years later, Trump would boast that although he didn't serve in the military, he believed he had received more military training in high school than actual service members did. 'I felt that I was in the military in the true sense because I dealt with those people,' he told biographer Michael D'Antonio. High school fantasies die hard. Most of us keep them to ourselves. On Saturday, all 340 million of us get to live Trump's. Somebody, please, buy the old man a pair of white gloves for this birthday. It'd make him so happy, maybe he'd leave us alone for a bit.
