President Trump holds a meeting of the FIFA Task Force at the White House.
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00:00well thank you very much everybody and i just presented johnny with the charter and the charter
00:18is a very big deal i just signed it and johnny i want to congratulate you and your sport
00:23in fifa for the great success of what we're going to be doing together very special
00:34very small signature that one got big that means i guess i like the event even more so than usual
00:42but i want to thank you all and welcome to the first meeting of the white house fifa task force
00:48i'm thrilled to be joined today by vice president jd vance thank you jd fifa president johnny
00:55infantino fifa senior advisor carlos cordero and ceo of fox sports eric shanks where's eric
01:05where's eric shanks hello eric you got a pretty good seat i don't know something i'm looking for
01:12you at this table you should be at this table hi eric along with members of my cabinet
01:17scott besant pam bondy howard lutnik sean duffy christy noem russ vote deputy secretary christopher
01:27landau and deputy secretary steve feinberg i also want to welcome two of my very good friends
01:35bernard arnault and alex arnault it's uh they own a little company around the world one of their
01:43smaller companies is tiffany and tiffany made the beautiful trophy and i guess it's uh around
01:50here someplace not this one the other one wherever it may be there it is behind me
01:55and uh it's really a work of art but i want to just welcome bernard and alex where are you
02:01where are you okay good they have no lack of cash i know that they're great and they're great
02:08people we've been friends for a long time thank you very much for being here it's a great honor to
02:12have you both we're also joined by senators shelly moore capito and todd young where are they where are
02:19they hi shelley how are you hi todd how you doing you're getting younger looking todd i'll tell you
02:25it's pretty young to start off with right oh you too she said she said what about me
02:31how about you two even more so todd right that's very cute representatives damon la hood and brian
02:39style thank you very much thank you very much fellas thank you good fbi director cash patel who's
02:47doing a fantastic job thank you very much cash appreciate it and our executive director andrew
02:53giuliani just got the post and he's going to be great i know him for a long time he's a
02:58he's a highly competitive golfer which i mean really good and he's also a highly competitive
03:04person and he loves what we're doing so i want to congratulate you and your family and your father
03:09your great father who's the greatest mayor in the history of new york so uh i want to congratulate
03:15the family it's a big it's a big post you better do well andrew tell him is my golf game okay too
03:22fantastic he knew what to say see well he's a smart person that's why i appointed him
03:29together this group will help plan the biggest safest and most extraordinary soccer tournament
03:34in history and that's what it's going to be johnny in my first term i negotiated the return of the
03:39world cup to america and now in my second term i'll have the honor of hosting the world cup for the first
03:44time of any president in more than 30 years and remember we also have a few other events i must tell
03:52we have the 2028 olympic games we have uh the 250 year celebration of america that's a big one i
04:01don't know maybe that's the biggest i don't know that could be the biggest uh but that's going to be
04:06unbelievable it's going to be essentially todd that's going to be a year-long celebration
04:10celebration we have the g20 and that'll be in december of 26 we have the g7 used to be the g8 by
04:19the way and that's in 2027 and uh that's a lot of action we have going for the next uh four years
04:28three and a half years it's really it's going to be amazing for the country i believe starting this june
04:34the united states will host the 2025 club world cup which will feature 32 elite soccer clubs from
04:41all over the world competing in 63 matches across 11 american cities including cincinnati ohio charlotte
04:49north carolina charlotte north carolina uh los angeles california nashville tennessee philadelphia
04:57pennsylvania so we have it in 11 american cities all over and uh these are great cities too and they
05:06like soccer more and more i guess they had some of those cities in specifically they really love it
05:11and next summer we'll host the official 2026 world cup tournament where 48 national teams will compete in
05:1878 matches right here in the usa and that'll be uh something very very different and very special
05:25these events will attract millions of passionate fans around the world including my son i have a son
05:32that loves soccer baron nobody's ever heard of baron right have you ever heard of baron he's a good
05:39soccer player too he's a little tall for soccer but that's okay and over one billion viewers you can
05:45have one of the big i guess one of the biggest uh viewerships of any sport of at any time this will be
05:52a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the beauty and the greatness of america and we
05:57can't wait to welcome soccer fans from all over the globe i don't know if i'm supposed to say
06:02soccer or football because every time i say soccer baron and eric say you're you're really saying it
06:09wrong it's supposed to be football but we know it more soccer uh these events will also generate tens
06:15of billions of billions of dollars in economic activity for local businesses and create thousands
06:20and thousands of jobs for american workers i've directed my entire team to do everything within
06:26our power to make the world cup an unprecedented success and that's what it's going to be we're
06:31going to make sure of it the state department the department of homeland security and every part of
06:36the u.s government will be working to ensure that these events are safe and successful and those
06:42traveling to america to watch the competition have a seamless experience during every part of their
06:48visit it's going to be very special together we will ensure that the 2026 world cup will be the
06:55best run soccer tournament the world has ever seen this is going to blow every other tournament
07:00you did you're going to be say you're going to say how terrible a job you did in the past because
07:06this is so much better gianni this is going to blow them all away i don't want to insult my other
07:11friends from other countries but we're going to blow them away right so now i'd like to introduce and
07:16he has been a friend of mine we fought very hard to get the event and i think before the media came
07:21in i said that uh it i was very disappointed because i got the event johnny i think we can say
07:27that strongly and then i said it won't be in my term and i won't be able to see it and then bad things
07:32happened with the election and now we do see it so i just repeat that because for the press to hear
07:37i'm sure they're thrilled to hear it but i'd like to ask uh fifa president johnny infantino uh really
07:44one of the most powerful men in sports it's amazing because you've done such an incredible job with
07:49soccer followed by vice president jd vance then secretary christy noem and secretary sean duffy
07:58to say a few words so johnny and then we'll go in that order thank you very much everybody thank you
08:12well thank you thank you very much mr president uh mr vice president uh members of uh the cabinet
08:20members of the task force the white house task force for this incredible event or events actually
08:29which will be happening here in america in in the year to come we were actually mr president so happy
08:37that the world cup 2026 will take place in the united states in canada and in mexico that we thought
08:43we'll actually bring another world cup as well here so you get two world cups in the next year the new
08:51fifa club world cup this is the trophy of the new fifa club world cup did you notice the way he said that
08:57in the united states canada mexico
09:02that's the way it's supposed to be i had to interrupt i'm sorry go ahead no well it's uh 78 games will take
09:10place of the world cup in in the united states out of the 104 games um but the club world cup this year
09:18is a new competition will take place in the united states in 11 cities of the united states it's new
09:25it will make history in 250 years when they will celebrate the 250 years anniversary of the fifa club world
09:34cup well they will speak about this meeting they will speak about the united states of america because
09:40it is a big event the 32 best club teams in the world with players from over 90 different countries
09:49will come here for the first time in history to compete and we'll see who is the real world champion
09:56in uh club football and this happens before uh the world cup of course next year so in 40 days
10:04less than bit less than 40 days um on the 14th of june in miami will open the fifa club world cup opening game
10:14the final on the 13th of july in new york new jersey and in between 63 top games of the best players of the
10:24best clubs in the world who want to win this trophy here crafted by uh tiffany uh and i'm i'm thanking as well
10:32the arnaud family for being here they are in soccer as well now uh in paris they have just
10:38been promoted to the top division so congratulations uh for that actually mr president soccer or football
10:45maybe we can uh clarify that uh here i'll do let me give it a try uh if i may so we basically
10:55everyone outside of this beautiful country we call football a game we play with our feet right that's
11:02why we call it football it makes sense makes sense it makes a lot of sense in this beautiful country
11:07you call football a game you play with your hands right so i don't know who's right but the important
11:14mr president whether we call it soccer or football is that we have funds great that we enjoy and that's
11:20what fifa is about fifa is i say this as well to all the media present because everyone else knows
11:26it fifa is an official provider of happiness to humanity and in the next year we are providing
11:34happiness to humanity from the united states of america and that's why we are happy uh to be here so we
11:42have the club world cup this year we have the world cup next year united states canada and mexico
11:50of course 104 games mr president 104 super bowls in one month we'll have six billion viewers the final
12:00alone will attract between two and three billion viewers this is i don't know 15 20 times more than
12:07the super bowl the entire world will focus on the united states of america and america welcomes
12:14the world i'm very happy to say that mr president because i know you i've had the meetings with
12:20several members of your cabinet as well you have established this task force america will welcome
12:27the world everyone who wants to come here to enjoy to have fun to celebrate the game will be able to do
12:34that in the host cities in the 11 cities all over the country in uh all these fan festivals that we will
12:41create we have 10 million tickets for sale so anyone who doesn't yet have a ticket go on fifa.com
12:48tickets 10 million tickets three and a half million for the club world cup six and a half million
12:54for the world coming how do we measure success mr president well in many ways of course full stadiums
13:01is one of that the economic impact is another one of that um and uh dear secretary these two world cups
13:09will bring almost 50 billion in economic output to the united states of america they will create
13:15almost 300 000 jobs in america for uh the celebration of uh two world cups which will bring the world
13:26to the united states a few million fans will come a few billion will watch it from home but everyone will
13:34be happy and everyone will be celebrating how the united states of america will put up the best events
13:42ever that the world has seen not just sport events but the best events we are here for that we are here to
13:49work for that we are here to work all together as a team to celebrate the united states the 250th anniversary
13:58as well to celebrate the world and the world cup around a soccer ball or a football and to make sure
14:07that everything happens as well as you said mr president and a safe in a secure environment so
14:13uh we have and the world has of course full full and entire confidence in uh the united states and uh
14:23in all the partners in all uh the agencies to make sure that uh we will bring to the world uh something
14:32that uh they have never seen and they will probably never see again thank you very much we are here for
14:39that and i'm looking forward to these two world cups thank you thank you well thank you mr president
14:51and thanks to this uh this incredible group that we've assembled i'm proud to be the vice chair of
14:55this for a couple of reasons first of all the last time the president had me around a national or
15:02international sports trophy was the college football playoff national championship and i almost broke it
15:07and so i appreciate the president giving me a second chance here but um as as all of you know
15:12soccer is a sport of incredible grace and finesse and beauty these are three things that have nothing
15:18to do with politics and so we're thrilled to have the fifa world cup in the united states of america
15:23i think that you'll see the very best of the united states of america both in athletic competition
15:27but also in hospitality something our boss knows quite a bit about and so we're excited to have you
15:33we're excited for this event and we will do everything at the government level to make this
15:37thing as successful as we can and i will say to before i turn it over to the next speaker that of
15:44course everybody is welcome to come and see this incredible event i know we'll have visitors probably
15:49from close to 100 countries we want them to come we want them to celebrate we want them to watch the
15:53game but uh when the time is up they'll have to go home otherwise they'll have to talk to secretary
15:59now who i'll turn it over to now well thank you mr president thank you so much for um dreaming big
16:07dreams and doing unprecedented things your entire life you have stood for doing things that other
16:12people thought they couldn't do and accomplishing unprecedented events and achievements and so this
16:18is one of those events that i think is going to be remarkable and will stand the test of time
16:23as the world's greatest sporting event ever held and conducted uh you are honoring us by agreeing
16:28to be the chairman of this event the vice president has greatly honored us by being the vice chair
16:33and also we have a remarkable leader in andrew giuliani who stepped up and will be the executive
16:39director of making sure that we're not just conducting and hosting people from all around
16:44the world but that we're also doing it safely you have tasked our department the department of
16:49homeland security with making sure these events are safe and secure and it will be a challenge but
16:55one that we welcome because we know that america is a place where we invite people to be a part of our
17:02livelihood we want to expose all of the american people to the wonders of this sport and i believe
17:08that the old proverb that says what you see with your eyes you carry with your heart is is what will happen
17:15when we host this event carlos has agreed to step up and be a senior advisor as well to the task force and
17:22his knowledge and expertise has been incredibly valuable in all of the meetings and organizational
17:28efforts that we've already put forward so sir you know um as all of us do that have participated in
17:34sports that um there's something that happens when you're involved in competition you spend time with
17:39people you relax uh you are out there enjoying success but also recognizing failures and and challenges
17:46and overcoming them there's a bonding uh that happens among people and i believe that's what you are
17:52doing is creating an opportunity for the world to become a friendlier place we will welcome over
17:58two million visitors that will come here from other countries uh we will have 10 million different
18:03tickets 22 million people will interact with these activities and it is an opportunity to have people bond
18:10with each other to create a friendlier world uh where we will be able to do business we'll be able to
18:16enjoy their visits here we will take care of their documentation and travel documents and it will go
18:22smoothly and we will make sure that they can come and enjoy and bring their families and friends
18:28and make memories together it's going to be incredibly special so thank you for leading at an unprecedented
18:33time and doing so with big visions for the future thank you for doing this thank you very much
18:38christy appreciate it sean thank you mr president
18:4811 u.s cities 78 games in the u.s and i think you said it's just like 78 super bowls next summer in the
18:57u.s so this is massive mr president thank you for putting together the task force you know that uh great
19:03events don't happen unless you have great planning and starting uh well over a year in advance putting your
19:08team together to make sure this event goes off without a hitch i thank you for that um as part of
19:14the dot again we're going to move a lot of people around the country a lot of uh american spectators but
19:20a lot of foreign spectators are going to come into the country and uh security and safety is key we're
19:24going to work with homeland and christie to make sure we secure our airspace around these events we're moving
19:30people from city to city and from hotels to the fan festivals to the stadiums making sure we have
19:38enough transportation whether it's trains and buses in the cities that host this great event uh we're
19:43working through that as well as making sure our airlines and our airports are ready to facilitate
19:50the travel throughout the country and so this is everyone working together what i think is great
19:54mr president i have to imagine this was part of the plan you're like let's bring in the world cup
19:59in the year of america's 250th birthday so not only is america going to celebrate our 250th we're going
20:06to bring in millions of people to celebrate with us i know state and homeland and dot and all of us are
20:12going to work together to make sure it is seamless travel we want everyone to come to america we want
20:19everyone to spend a lot of money in america by the way as part of uh the dot's 250 celebration we're going
20:26to encourage everyone to go on a road trip mr president to celebrate our great country and so
20:30if you're coming to see some soccer not football or football or soccer um go on a road trip see america
20:38don't overstay your visa don't stay too long but when you come actually see this great country that
20:44we're going to celebrate uh over the course of the next year and um again we welcome everyone uh this team
20:49is going to work full heartedly together to make sure uh these events go off without a hitch and we're
20:56all able to celebrate the great athletes from around the world 48 countries coming in to compete uh in
21:01our great country thank you mr president thank you very much thank you would you have any questions
21:11of these great people or anybody around the table please yeah please go ahead
21:15you host the prime minister of canada here today and uh with him and with also the president of
21:25mexico there's been some recent tensions between them and the united states are you worried about
21:29any problems with that joint partnership as co-hosts of the world cup next year no i don't see any
21:35tension either we get along very well with both they just got to pay a little more money you know they
21:40just uh they're getting away with things that they shouldn't be and they understand we had a great
21:45meeting today actually with the new prime minister who's a terrific guy and we had a very long session
21:52with jd and marco and everybody and uh it went very well no we had a very great meeting and
21:59no tension we want to do what's right for respective peoples and that's what's going to happen and
22:06uh also with mexico i think uh the relationship is really very good with the president of mexico as
22:13you know you probably heard uh and we're going to have a very good relationship with regard to
22:19fifa i have no doubt about it johnny would know better than anybody but you understand i mean i think
22:24the relationship is very good thank you very much question yeah please will be the level of interaction
22:31cooperation with canada and mexico as it relates to next year's world cup are you already talking to
22:38them here we are it's total complete we talked about it even today at our meeting with uh with canada
22:45and the level is total it's going to be perfect going to be beautiful they're very excited about it
22:50yeah please are there anything being done to expedite visa applications for people around the
22:57world who want to come to the united states for the world cup and if i may just a second question for
23:01maybe mr duffy uh secretary duffy is there anything long lasting transportation wise that americans can
23:07expect from infrastructure being built for the world cup so we'll start with christy in terms of the
23:12applications absolutely this summer by hosting the club championships we're processing those travel
23:18documents and visa applications already and working with carlos and johnny and their team to make sure
23:24that they're done timely and being proactive of it and that is obviously going to be a precursor to what
23:29we can do next year for the world cup as well so it is all being facilitated we appreciate the partnership
23:35that we've got on all of this with the state department as well and i know we've got the attorney general
23:42and cash at the fbi too i'm interested in being a hall hands on deck to make sure this goes smoothly
23:50thank you sean yes so basically these are going to be short-term needs so we're going to have to bring
23:55in you know buses and additional forms of transportation most miami doesn't have the capacity
24:01with with their transit system to carry all of the people we're going to go from hotels and restaurants
24:07to stadiums and and uh the the fan center so we're going to have to manage those assets bring them in
24:12from around the country to move people but they won't be needed there long term uh so again i don't
24:18foresee you know long-term changes this is a short-term uh push of folks coming in to see great soccer
24:25matches and then they'll go home okay yeah please question about your thoughts on madison square garden
24:35uh the transportation department recently took over the refurbishment of penn station
24:38and i was wondering if you have an opinion on the proposal to move madison square garden to allow for
24:45a more classical train station to be built to move it to move it yes that was thought thought of years
24:51jim dolan's gonna have something to say about that and i've uh not heard of any recent plans they
24:57they tried to do that for years they've tried to move it but i think jim probably likes his location
25:02sitting on top of all the trains i can't blame them necessarily there's not too much of a move
25:07they are going to do something with penn station we'll be involved in that we'll work with the
25:10governor and we'll be involved with that very much okay thank you yeah please go ahead
25:19for more than 600 million dollars in federal funding for security do you support that and perhaps
25:25secretary noem can weigh in on security yeah yeah i support i support really whatever that takes and
25:34any money that's spent will make up many fold in terms of uh all of the economic development these
25:39events especially what we're talking and you have fifa and then you have the olympics and these events uh
25:46if properly done make a tremendous amount of money and prestige i think it's a great allure and prestige
25:52for our country and for the cities where they are it's going to be amazing yeah but we're going to
25:58not we won't hold back at all on security most importantly okay thank you yeah please
26:07first question is there any reason you haven't referred to mark carney as governor as you did
26:12with trudeau and the second question you said earlier that you don't have to sign any trade deals of
26:17course is there any country you expect to sign a trade deal with this week as secretary
26:21investment has indicated well we're looking at a lot of them we're talking to a lot of them right now
26:27i think i don't want to bore people with that but i gave a very long definition this morning in the
26:32oval office uh we have we're in very very good shape this country's never been in better shape and
26:38we're uh doing great we were being ripped off by every country in the world virtually and now we're
26:45not being ripped off anymore it's very simple very very simple as far as calling him uh governor
26:50carney now i haven't done that yet and maybe i won't i did have a lot of fun with uh trudeau
26:57but i think this is uh this is a big step up it's a good step up for canada i watched uh
27:03i watched very closely i thought he did really terrifically in the debates i i like him you know he's
27:08a nice man we got along very well we had a great meeting today really good i think the relationship
27:12is going to be very strong thank you yes um russia is banned from playing the next world cup what's
27:21your position on this say it again russia has been banned from playing the next world cup what's your
27:26position i didn't know that is that right yeah the one that is right they are banned for the time being
27:32here okay from playing but we hope that uh he's the boss i'm not the boss on that i have no we hope
27:37we hope that something happens and peace will happen and then we it's possible be readmitted so
27:43that's what we hope hey that could be a good incentive right we want to get them to stop
27:48we want them to stop we want the 5 000 young people a week are being killed it's not even believable
27:57the russian soldiers and the ukrainian soldiers mostly also people in towns every once every two weeks
28:04horrible things going on over there so uh we're gonna we're gonna get that war stopped okay when
28:11you were talking about all of the events that will be happening here in the u.s over the next few years
28:16you mentioned the g7 and you said it used to be called the g8 yeah as the host country you can
28:21actually invite russia to the g7 plus one uh what's your thinking on that right now well russia used to
28:29be a member of what was called then the g8 and uh i don't think i was really in politics at that
28:36point but i know that president obama didn't like it and they uh voted russia out and i say if they
28:43didn't vote russia out which i thought was a very foolish decision because it's uh a group of people
28:51sitting around a table i've done it many times with them and you get to know them and i say that if russia
28:56if it was the g8 of russia were in it i think you probably wouldn't have this ridiculous deadly war
29:01going on right now i thought it was a very bad decision it was headed by trudeau by the way and
29:07obama they were the ones that really fought hard to get russia out i think if russia were in
29:12you wouldn't be they threw them out and because of that maybe uh millions of people are dying millions
29:21you know millions the numbers are far greater than you think but millions of people are dying
29:27if he was sitting around the table with other people seven people hammering them and saying
29:32let's not do this you would yeah i think you wouldn't probably have had the the problems that
29:37you've had to get russia back into this group no i think it's i think it's not good timing now
29:45no right now it's uh we missed that gate didn't we huh we missed that gate with another great decision
29:51by some people that shouldn't have been making decisions uh yes go ahead
29:58mr president should people who have taken part in for example pro-palestinian protests across the world
30:04be concerned about being able to join the world cup and watching here in the u.s well i don't know what
30:11you mean by that but people that have taken part in protests i think people are allowed to protest
30:17you have to do it in a uh reasonable manner not necessarily friendly but reasonable otherwise
30:24pam will come after you and you're gonna have a big problem you're gonna have a big problem right
30:29man she's doing a good job too well my whole team here is doing a fantastic job we're very proud of
30:36them so uh yeah you have a right to protest yeah thank you go ahead yeah do you all do you support
30:45israel's plan to conquer gaza if hamas doesn't agree to a deal during your visit these are very strange
30:51questions aren't they i never like when they read them off a machine who's sending you the question to
30:57you uh and let's not talk about that now we're talking about the world cup go ahead what else anything
31:02else i think we're pretty well set i want to thank everybody and we're going to make this
31:07tremendously successful and you can see johnny's a very enthusiastic man he's got great enthusiasm and
31:13that's one of the reasons that you've had such success over the last number of years that you've
31:18been there amazing he's like he's like somebody that just woke up on christmas morning as a young
31:24child and saw those toys under the tree and that enthusiasm really plays very well i have to say
31:30and you've done a fantastic job as the head and uh we're going to we're going to do what we have
31:34to do and thank you very much thank you everybody very much appreciate it
32:00very much thank you
32:03so
32:09we're going to thank you
32:12we're going to thank you