“They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment,” the spokesperson added.
The USA women’s hockey team has declined President Donald Trump’s invitation for them to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address, citing that the team will be unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.
“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 USA Hockey spokesperson said, per NBC News. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.”
“They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment,” the spokesperson added.
The US women’s hockey team as well as the men’s hockey team both beat their Canadian counterparts to bring home the gold medal over the weekend. In a video of a call between the men’s team and Trump, the president could be heard saying, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” He then joked if he didn’t bring the women’s team also “I would probably be impeached.”
FBI Director Kash Patel was in the locker room with the men’s hockey team as they celebrated the win and was able to phone Trump for the president to deliver the invite.
“I’ll tell you what. I just told my people two minutes ago, I didn’t know they’d be calling, I said we’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night,” Trump said. “I can send a military plane or something, but if you would like to, it’s the coolest night, it’s the biggest speech …”
One player cut Trump off, and said, “We’re in.”
“We’ll get Kash, and we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump continued. “You won’t have to worry about the weather or landing. We don’t care if it’s snowing or if it’s the worst blizzard – we’ll be sailing through like you did on the ice,” Trump added in the call to the men’s team.
