Saquon Barkley Rebuffs Trump As Other Athletes Line Up Behind Him

President Donald Trump keeps trying to stake his claim as the sports president.

Trump, who in February became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl and in May announced Washington, D.C., will host the 2027 NFL Draft, last week issued an executive order reestablishing a sports, fitness, and nutrition council. 

A group of famous athletes who are on the council attended an event held at the White House to celebrate the occasion, headlined by council chair and LIV Golf pro Bryson DeChambeau, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, Swedish American golfer Annika Sörenstam, former wrestler and current WWE executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in 2011 that required him to register as a sex offender.

Not in attendance was Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who became a Super Bowl champion at the game Trump attended. The NFL star was invited, and Trump said he would be part of the council, but Barkley declined to attend and later said he did not accept the invitation to be part of the council.

Speaking after a recent practice, Barkley said his team was informed about the council “a couple months ago,” according to ESPN. 

“I felt like I am going to be super busy, so me and my family thought it would probably be of best interest to not accept that,” Barkley said. “I was definitely a little shocked when my name was mentioned. I’m assuming it’s something great, so I appreciate it but was a little shocked when my name was mentioned.”

Earlier this year, Barkley was among the handful of Eagles who attended a White House ceremony celebrating the Super Bowl victory. 

Barkley, who drew heat for golfing with Trump that week (he previously golfed with former President Barack Obama), responded to backlash from angry Eagles fans with a social media post saying, “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand.”

During the White House ceremony this year, Trump called Barkley “a handsome guy” and took a dig at Barkley’s old team, the Giants, for letting him walk in free agency. 

“I was with the Giants and the head coach and some people and I said, ‘Do anything you have to, but don’t lose Saquon,’” Trump said of Barkley.

However, a Giants spokesperson told Front Office Sports “there were no conversations” between Trump and the Giants about Barkley.

The executive order says the council will have as many as 30 members. Among other athletes Trump named during the event as council members were NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, and Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera.

It was not clear whether athletes other than Barkley also declined to participate.​​ The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Under the executive order, Trump aims to address “the widespread epidemic of declining health and physical fitness with a time-tested approach celebrating the exceptionalism of America’s sports and fitness traditions,” including a directive to bring back the Presidential Fitness Test in schools, which was phased out during the Obama Administration in favor of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. 

During Trump’s first term, his sports, fitness, and nutrition council included Rivera, as well as Olympic gold medalist beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor, plus former NFL running back Herschel Walker, who in 2022 ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign in Georgia. Walker is currently Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the Bahamas.

Former President Joe Biden’s council included Steph Curry, longtime WNBA stars Elena Delle Donne and Tamika Catchings, and ex-MLB slugger Ryan Howard. 

Trump Creates 2028 Olympics Task Force

Trump’s sports push is not stopping there. Reuters reported Tuesday that he is expected to issue another executive order this week forming a White House task force that will coordinate security and oversee visa processing and credentialing during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, which will take place during the last year of Trump’s term.

Speaking Tuesday at an event for the Olympics executive order, Trump said he is focused on ensuring the Olympics are safe.

“We’ll do anything necessary to keep the Olympics safe, including using our National Guard or military,” he said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement that “the President considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term.”

Casey Wasserman, chairperson and president of LA28, said in an emailed statement that “the creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028.”

Last month, an entire Little League baseball team from Venezuela was denied visas to travel to the U.S. for the Senior League Baseball World Series in Greenville, S.C., amid a travel ban on Venezuelans—although on Tuesday The Athletic reported those players have been granted a “national exemption.” 

Also last month, a letter signed by more than 90 human rights groups was sent to FIFA president Gianni Infantino to express “deep concern” about Trump’s immigration policies and enforcement measures ahead of the men’s World Cup in 2026, which will be held in North America.

Trump’s Crusade Against Transgender Athletes

Trump campaigned on barring transgender athletes from women’s sports, and he has issued a flurry of executive orders and lawsuits to achieve that end. In February he signed an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in schools. The following day, the NCAA announced changes to its transgender athlete participation policy that were in line with the executive order. Last month, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee followed suit, updating its official policy to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports across all of its governing bodies.

During the Tuesday event talking about the Olympics, Trump expressed surprise at the crowd’s silence when he expressed approval of the rule changes regarding transgender athletes in the Olympics, and then said the United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics.” 

On Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services directed the Department of Homeland Security to deny visas for transgender women seeking to compete in the United States.

The specific visa categories affected are: O-1A aliens of extraordinary ability, E11 aliens of extraordinary ability, E21 aliens of exceptional ability.

USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in the statement that “men do not belong in women’s sports. USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women.”