President-elect Donald Trump huddled with allies and a Republican cause celebre at Saturday’s Army-Navy football game, taking in one of the most storied rivalries in college sports while spotlighting his emerging national security team.
Mr Trump was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, embattled Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, potential backup defence secretary option Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and others to watch Navy beat Army 31-13 in the 125th matchup between the service academies.
Daniel Penny, a military veteran who was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide this past week in the chokehold death of an agitated subway rider in New York, also was a guest in the president’s suite.
Mr Penny was invited by Mr Vance, who accused prosecutors of trying to “ruin” Mr Penny’s life by charging the Marine veteran in the death of Jordan Neely in 2023.
Mr Trump arrived at Northwest Stadium just before kickoff and was greeted warmly by the crowd, which erupted in cheers when the president-elect, Mr Vance and Elon Musk, who Mr Trump has appointed to help lead a proposed Department of Government Efficiency, appeared on the scoreboard video screen.
The president, who was seated with his entourage in a stadium suite, mouthed “thank you” and the crowd erupted in a chant of “USA, USA!”
Mr Trump, who attended Army-Navy games as president-elect in 2016 and during his first term, has been making an increasing number of public appearances before his inauguration on January 20 2025.
He was accompanied by his family and Mr Vance on Thursday as he rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange after being recognised as Time magazine’s person of the year.
Mr Trump spent the weeks after the November 5 election holed up at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida assembling a team to help lead his next administration.
He and his aides have become bullish about Mr Hegseth’s chances of winning Senate confirmation.
The Army combat veteran and former Fox News host’s chances of becoming defence secretary had appeared in peril amid allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat.
Mr DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer who competed against Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, is among the possible replacement candidates Mr Trump has considered if Mr Hegseth’s bid fizzles.
But Saturday’s game offered Mr Trump a chance to display his commitment to Mr Hegseth’s nomination.
The embattled nominee even stood with Mr Trump and Mr Vance for the playing of the national anthem.
The mood appeared celebratory for Mr Trump and his team on Saturday.
Mr Hegseth along with fellow Army veterans Representative Mike Waltz, Mr Trump’s incoming national security adviser, and Tulsi Gabbard, Mr Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence, posted a short video on X shortly before the game to make their allegiances clear.
“We love our Navy, except today” said Mr Waltz, a retired Army National Guard colonel who did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.
“Go Army!” Ms Gabbard added.
Mr Trump also spent time during the game with Air Force General CQ Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose future could be on shaky ground in the new Trump administration.
President Joe Biden last year tapped Gen Brown for a four-year term as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, but military leaders serve at the pleasure of the president.
Gen Brown, a combat pilot and just the second black officer to serve as chairman, spoke out after the police killing of George Floyd, a touchstone moment in the Black Lives Matter movement, about the bias he faced in his own life and career.
