Politics
NEW: Trump Announces Administration Role For Andrew Giuliani
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York Mayor and staunch Trump ally Rudi Giuliani, will be heading up a new presidential task force.
Giuliani, who previously ran for governor of New York in the state’s Republican primary, will be serving as the executive director of the president’s 2026 FIFA World Cup task force.
“He’s gonna be great,” Trump said at the inaugural meeting of the task force on Tuesday. “I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a highly competitive golfer, which I mean, really good. And he’s also a highly competitive person and he loves what we’re doing.”
Giuliani unsuccessfully ran against eventual Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin in the state’s Republican primary in 2022. He has also worked as a political commentator for a number of outlets, including Newsmax.
The president also announced that Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to the FIFA president and a longtime former employee at Goldman Sachs, would serve in the task force as a senior adviser.
Giuliani and Cordeiro were sworn in by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Trump was in the middle of his first term as president when the U.S. won a bid to host the iconic tournament in conjunction with Mexico and Canada. Eleven American cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, will play host to World Cup games, as will two Canadian cities and three in Mexico.
“Together, we will ensure that the 2026 World Cup will be the best-run soccer tournament the world has ever seen,” Trump told FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, during the meeting. “This is going to blow every other tournament you did. You’re gonna say, how terrible a job you did in the past, because this is so much better, Gianni. This is going to blow ‘em all away.”
More than five million fans are expected to attend the tournament from all over the world, FIFA projects. While both Trump and Vice President Vance welcomed soon-to-be visitors to the United States, Vance noted that the nation’s immigration and visa policies will remain in place.
“I know we’ll have visitors probably from close to 100 countries. We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home, otherwise they’ll have to talk to Secretary [Kristi] Noem,” he said.
Tuesday’s meeting comes as President Trump has continued to place significant emphasis on high-profile sporting events in his second term. On Monday, the White House announced that the 2027 NFL Draft will be held on the National Mall, while Trump has also been lobbying for the construction of a new, 65,000-seat stadium for the Washington Commanders inside D.C. proper.
