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Trump pledges 'total support' for 2028 Olympics in LA

President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media next to Air Force One before departing for Los Angeles, at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/UPI
1 of 2 | President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media next to Air Force One before departing for Los Angeles, at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Speaking in Los Angeles Tuesday night, President Donald Trump pledged total support from the federal government for the city to put on the Summer Olympic Games in eight years.

Trump attended a meeting with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Los Angeles organizers at the Montage Beverly Hills hotel, where he signed a pledge to back the 2028 Games -- saying it guarantees "total support" for the Olympics he said will be a "major economic victory."

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The Games will create more than 110,000 jobs and add $18 billion to the local economy, including $7 billion in wages, he said.

"From the day I took office, I've done everything in my power to make sure that LA achieves the winning bid," the president added. "And now for the third time in history, the city of Los Angeles -- the City of Angels -- will once again lift up the Olympic torch and welcome the world's greatest competitors to the Summer Games."

Trump's visit Tuesday was just his fifth in California, a heavily Democratic state that the president's administration has repeatedly criticized over a variety of immigration issues -- most notably for its major cities being "sanctuary cities," municipalities that do not cooperate with federal immigration warrants.

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Trump has also chastised Los Angeles over its homelessness. Tuesday night, he said the federal government might have to take control of the situation if California leaders can't.

"We're really taking a role in it," he said. "I see what's happening to LA, I see what's happening to San Francisco ... There's no reason this should've happened."

Following the meeting, Trump met with supporters at a joint fundraising committee dinner at the hotel. He will attend another fundraising event Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee in 2017 selected Los Angeles as the 2028 host site. The city has hosted the Summer Games twice before, in 1932 and 1984.

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