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BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump attended the NCAA wrestling championships on Saturday night for the second time in three years, the latest example of how he has mostly limited travel early in his new term to trips built around sports events.
Trump arrived at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to loud cheers and a standing ovation. He pumped his fists amid chants of “U-S-A!” As the matches occurred, Trump stood near the action and personally congratulated most of the winning wrestlers. Hours later, he left the arena, shaking hands along the way as the crowd roared.
The Republican president spent Friday night at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, about 70 miles northeast of Philadelphia, on what was his first visit there of his second term.
“We’re going to the big fight," Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Friday evening. “I’ve always supported the wrestlers.” He added, “These are the great college wrestlers from the various schools.”
Trump traveled with billionaire and top adviser Elon Musk. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin greeted the president as he arrived at the Philadelphia airport. Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan were also at the arena sitting in the same section as Musk and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
In the two-plus months since returning to the White House, Trump attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the Daytona 500 in Florida, where his motorcade drove a portion of the track. While president-elect he went to a UFC fight in New York.
That’s more travel for sports than for policy announcements or official duties, though a long January swing took Trump to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and wildfires in Los Angeles. He then gave a speech and visited the floor of Las Vegas’ Circa Resort & Casino before heading to Doral, Florida, to address a House Republican policy conference.
Trump has long built his public and political persona around sporting events, and relishes turning up at live events to hear cheers from the crowd, even if some in attendance boo him. He also has signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports — an action which he points to frequently to fire up his core supporters.
The president played football as a student at the New York Military Academy. As a New York businessman in the early 1980s, he owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League.
Trump had sued to force a merger of the USFL and the NFL. The USFL eventually folded.
During an interview on Air Force One with “Outkick the Show” podcast host Clay Travis on Saturday night, Trump was asked about the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles being set to visit the White House, after not doing so following their Super Bowl win in 2018.
That year, Trump said he was rescinding the team's invitation after some players indicated that they planned to boycott.
“It’s a great honor to come,” Trump said.
The president said he also planned to host the Kansas City Chiefs after the Eagles, saying that the visit would make up for one that couldn’t happen when the Chiefs won the 2020 Super Bowl because of the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s despite Trump’s predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, having hosted the Chiefs after they won the title in 2023, a visit that was considered as also making up for the missed White House stop in 2020.
“They missed their turn because of COVID,” Trump said of the Chiefs.
The president has used most Saturdays and Sundays to play golf at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, though he also sometimes remained in Washington to give weekend speeches.
Trump was a candidate for reelection when he went to the 2023 NCAA wrestling championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
During the in-flight interview, Trump was asked about his administration's release of thousands of files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and he conceded that they didn't contain many startling new revelations.
“I think the papers have turned out to be somewhat unspectacular," Trump said. "And maybe that’s a good thing.”
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Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo in Philadelphia and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
