Trump to lead White House task force on LA's 2028 Olympics

KEY TAKEAWAYS

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a White House task force for the 2028 Olympics on Tuesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called President Trump instrumental in securing the bid.
Funding and city service costs remain unclear, despite appropriations being made in Trump's recent tax bill.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday creating a White House task force on the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

The president "considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Los Angeles Times, describing Trump as "instrumental in securing America's bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles" in his first term.

"Sports is one of President Trump's greatest passions, and his athletic expertise, combined with his unmatched hospitality experience, will make these Olympic events the most exciting and memorable in history," Leavitt said.

Casey Wasserman, the chairman of the organizing committee for the Los Angeles Olympics, thanked Trump and his administration for their "leadership and unwavering support" in a statement Monday.

In March, the president signed an executive order establishing a similar White House task force for the FIFA World Cup in soccer that the U.S. is hosting next year with Canada and Mexico. Trump also chairs that task force, operated out of the Department of Homeland Security.

The announcement comes as new questions are being raised about who will pay for police, fire, sanitation and other city services during LA's Olympics, despite a $1 billion appropriation in the president's massive tax and spending cut bill signed into law on July 4.

The federal funding for the 2028 Summer Games in the bill is designated "for security, planning, and other costs related to the 2028 Olympics," but there have been no specifics about how it will be allocated.

There is no shortage of friction between the Trump administration and Democratic officials in California, including over how Los Angeles handled protests against federal immigration raids where the president deployed National Guard troops.

The Secret Service is in charge of security at the Olympics, a "National Special Security Event" like the Super Bowl, under a change made after the deadly bombing in 1996 at the country's last Summer Games, in Atlanta.

The federal government has also provided funding for spectator transportation systems that utilized buses and drivers from around the country, at both the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta as well as at Utah's first Winter Games, in 2002.

When Salt Lake City hosts the 2034 Winter Games, organizers anticipate similar federal support. The $4 billion budget for staging the state's next Olympics and Paralympics relies on private sources of revenue, largely from the sale of broadcast rights, sponsorship and tickets.

This isn't the first time a president has set up a task force ahead of a U.S. Olympics. In September 1998, then-President Bill Clinton announced the White House Task Force on the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

At the time, the Clinton administration described the task force made up of federal agency representatives as "an interagency effort to coordinate the extensive federal activities involved in the planning and operation of the Salt Lake City Winter Games."

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