24 February 2026 — A celebratory locker-room phone call from President Donald Trump to the gold-medal winning United States men’s national ice hockey team has prompted a political and public relations storm after a joke about also inviting the women’s team drew sharp criticism and the U.S. women’s side declined an invitation to Washington.
The call, captured on video and widely shared, came after the men edged Canada 2-1 in overtime to win Olympic gold in Milan.
The video shows the men’s players gathered and laughing as the president congratulates them and quips that “we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” adding in jest that he might be “impeached” if he left them out.
The moment prompted immediate backlash on social platforms, with critics calling the remark dismissive of the women’s achievement and condemning the players’ laughter as tone-deaf, given the broader context around respect for women’s sport.
The episode was complicated by the visible presence of FBI director Kash Patel in the locker-room celebrations. Videos and photos showing Patel joining the team and partaking in the festivities have drawn political criticism and questions about the appropriateness of his attendance while on official travel.
Patel has defended his presence in Milan, saying he was on official business and that he would personally cover any expenses related to the celebration; the defence did little to quell criticism from Democrats who said the trip and behaviour looked like a taxpayer-funded photo op.
The U.S. women’s national side, fresh from their own Olympic gold, declined the White House invitation reportedly extended after the men’s call.
According to multiple outlets, the women’s team cited prior commitments and chose not to travel to Washington for the State of the Union or a postgame celebration; the refusal added fuel to the debate about how both teams and the White House handled the outreach and optics.
Critics said the sequence of events underscored a lack of seriousness from officials who should be modeling respect for both programmes.
Political symbolism amplified the controversy. The White House’s official social-media post celebrating the win used imagery that many readers interpreted as intentionally provocative, an eagle appearing to dominate a goose, which drew rebukes from commentators in Canada and observers who saw it as unnecessarily combative for a sporting victory.
The visual rhetoric, paired with the phone call, turned what might have been a straightforward celebratory exchange into a diplomatic and cultural talking point.
Reactions from the sports world and former athletes were swift. Commentators and social-media voices criticized the men’s team for laughing during the exchange and questioned the appropriateness of political actors using high-visibility sporting moments for partisan optics.
Some conservative voices defended the call as a harmless congratulation. The mix of reactions illustrated how elite sport and high-profile politics can rapidly collide in the social-media era, turning athletic wins into culture-war flashpoints.
From a practical standpoint, the invitation posed logistical problems: the NHL season resumes almost immediately, meaning many players must return to club commitments.
Team officials described weighing the honour of a White House invitation against scheduling realities. That tension was evident in public statements, noting that attendance by the men’s squad at the State of the Union or a White House event would be complicated by travel and the professional calendar.
What happens next is uncertain. The women’s team has signalled it does not wish to be used as an accessory to a political moment it finds uncomfortable; political actors are briefing allies, and critics are preparing further scrutiny of officials who joined sporting celebrations abroad.
Meanwhile, the players, who achieved a rare Olympic double for U.S. hockey, are navigating praise, national attention, and a debate that has shifted the focus away from their performances on the ice.
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