Trump gives ‘red card’ to reporters during meeting with FIFA head

President Trump on Tuesday jokingly tossed a red card in the direction of members of the media during a meeting with FIFA and U.S. Soccer officials in the Oval Office.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented Trump with a yellow card and a red card, explaining that the former is used as a warning during matches and the latter is used to kick a player out.

Trump took the red card from Infantino and mimed flinging it in the direction of the press.

{mosads}”That’s very good. I like that,” Trump said.

“The next media session,” U.S. Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro joked.

In the Oval Office, FIFA President Infantino gifts Trump a yellow and red card for when he wants to “kick out someone.” Trump jokingly holds it up to the press pool. (via @SteveKopack) pic.twitter.com/uTguXTEhZE

— Ethan Kraft (@ethan_kraft) August 28, 2018

The three men met to discuss the United States’s role in hosting the 2026 men’s World Cup. The U.S. won the rights to host the tournament as part of a joint bid with Mexico and Canada.

“We’re going to have a great partnership, and it’s going to be very special,” Trump said before noting that he will no longer be in office when the tournament rolls around.

“I won’t be here. Maybe they’ll extend the term,” Trump said. “If they don’t extend, the media is going to be very boring.”

FIFA members voted 134-65 earlier this year to award the tournament to North America over a bid from Morocco.

Trump and other members of his administration had lobbied for the games, with the president tweeting in April that “it would be a shame” if other nations opposed the North American bid.

“Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?” Trump tweeted. 

The president and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson repeatedly assured FIFA in the lead-up to the vote on the 2026 games that the U.S. would ease restrictions that were implemented as part of the president’s ban on travel from several majority-Muslim countries.

Trump assured Infantino in a May 2 letter that the U.S. government would welcome fans, athletes and officials “without discrimination.”

The tournament will expand in 2026 to include 48 teams. Thirty-two teams qualified for the 2018 tournament.