President Donald Trump would look to move matches for the 2026 World Cup if he deems any of the US cities planning to serve as hosts to be unsafe.
Speaking Thursday about the event, which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, Trump was asked by reporters in the Oval Office specifically about games in Seattle and San Francisco.
"Well, that's an interesting question ... but we're going to make sure they're safe," he said. "(Seattle and San Francisco are) run by radical left lunatics who don't know what they're doing."
Six matches are scheduled to be played at Seattle's Lumen Field and six are set for Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., about an hour's drive from San Francisco.
World Cup matters are overseen by FIFA, which determined the game sites and would figure to be in charge of any changes. However, Trump has a close working relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Trump cited his policies as helping make the country safer ahead of the World Cup. He sent the National Guard into Washington, D.C., last month to deal with what he called a "crime emergency," and he subsequently said that the move resulted in the city having "no crime."
He said Thursday, "As you probably know, we're going into Memphis and we're going into some other cities. Very soon we're going into Chicago. It will be safe for the World Cup. If I think it isn't safe, we'll move into a different city, absolutely. It's actually a very fair question.
"If I think it's not safe, we're going to move it out of that city. So if any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup, or for the (2028) Olympics, you know where they have Olympic overthrow right, but for the World Cup in particular, because they're playing in so many cities, we won't allow it. We'll move it around a little bit. But I hope that's not going to happen."
The draw for the World Cup, which will feature 48 teams, is scheduled for December 5 in Washington, D.C.
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