Team USA star Caroline Harvey appeared to fight back laughter as she shut down President Donald Trump’s talk of a potential meeting at the White House.
Harvey, 23, who won a gold medal with the U.S. Women’s Hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, appeared Thursday on CNN’s The Story Is With Elex Michaelson on Thursday. She was asked about Trump’s claim during his State of the Union address that the team would “soon be coming to the White House.”
“President Trump said at the State of the Union that the women‘s team is coming to the White House. Is that true? And if so, is there a date for that?” Michaelson asked Harvey.
Harvey said she hadn’t heard anything.
“I‘m unsure. Yeah, I don’t, I‘m not sure. Obviously, right now we‘re all back with our respective teams pro or college, but yeah, I don’t, I haven‘t heard any word on that,” she said.
When asked whether she would attend if invited, Harvey said she’d probably pass.
“I mean, I‘m just busy right now with school,” she said. “And obviously, like you said, we got a championship to win here, and we’ve got a lot of stuff ahead of us. So personally, I need to finish out school and take care of business in that way.”
Harvey added: “But I mean, yeah, I feel like I have my hands pretty tied right now.”
When contacted for comment, a White House official insisted the meeting was still going ahead.
“As the President and U.S. Women’s hockey team has stated, we look forward to hosting them at the White House after their tremendous victory and celebration,” the official told the Daily Beast.
The team secured its third Olympic gold medal after defeating Canada 2–1 in overtime at the Milan Cortina Games.
Trump, 79, sparked backlash after he joked in a Feb. 22 phone call to the men’s hockey team that he would invite the gold medal-winning teams to the White House.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that?” Trump said during the call, joking that if he didn’t, ”I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
That remark drew criticism from U.S. women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight, who called it “a distasteful joke” during an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday.
The controversy surrounding Trump’s White House invitation “is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold-medal feats,” Knight said.
The Daily Beast has contacted USA Hockey for comment.
