US Women’s Hockey Team Declines Trump’s State of the Union Invite

The U.S. Women’s ice hockey team has declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to attend his State of the Union address following their gold-medal victory over Canada at the Winter Olympics.

“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” a spokesperson from USA Hockey said in a statement to media outlets on Monday. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.”

Trump also invited the U.S. Men’s hockey team to attend the address following their own overtime gold-medal win against Canada at the Milano Cortina Games.

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” the President said when extending the invitation to the men’s team, according to videos of the exchange shared on X. He added that if he didn’t invite the women’s team, “I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?”, a comment that drew laughter from the players. Trump added that he wanted to honor the men’s team at the White House on Wednesday night.

The men’s team has not made a statement about how they will respond to either invitation from Trump.

Prior to the women’s team declining to attend, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday that there was “no way to have special guests on the floor” for the State of the Union “because it’s a literal session of Congress,” but that House officials were trying to work out a way to “accommodate” the teams for the speech.

The invitation to both teams came after thrilling Olympic finals, with the American women beating Canada 2-1 in overtime on Thursday and the U.S. Men defeating Canada on Sunday, also in overtime.

Scheduling presented a challenge for the women’s team, as many players were not scheduled to arrive in North America until Monday evening, having flown commercially. The men’s team arrived by charter earlier Monday. A source told the Associated Press that the women’s players didn’t learn of the invite until late Sunday night, making it difficult to change their travel plans.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of both teams.

Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Kash Patel, who appeared to facilitate the call between the President and the men’s hockey team, faced scrutiny after videos of him celebrating and drinking with the men’s team were released on social media. Images of Patel in a box at the men’s final also circulated. Patel posted on X, stating, “For the very concerned media – yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys. Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.”

Patel’s trip to Milan, Italy, coincided with a shooting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, an incident the FBI director posted about on X. His time in Italy also came amid Trump’s consideration of strikes on Iran and the ongoing search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.

Following the Olympics, players from both U.S. Hockey teams are returning to their respective teams in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Women’s Hockey League (WHL) and on the college level. The NHL resumes games on Wednesday, and the WHL the following day.