Exclusive | Trump vows to protect Californians at the 2028 Olympics: ‘It’ll be great!’

WASHINGTON — President Trump has confidence that Los Angeles can pull off the summer 2028 Olympics – with the help of the US military.

“I think they can, but they have to have the security of the military, and it’ll be great,” Trump told The California Post in an exclusive Oval Office interview on Friday.

Trump pointed to the National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, to demonstrate how a turnaround is possible with the help of men and women in uniform.

“When I had the National Guard here, they helped clean up the place. They were taking trash out,” Trump said. “You see how clean Washington is now? They took down all the fences because nobody is laying on the ground anymore.”

Casey Wasserman, chairman and president of the 2028 Olympics organizing committee, is “a very nice guy,” Trump said.

“They want to have great protection.”

The lottery opened this month for tickets to the Olympics, which runs from July 14 to July 30, 2028. The LA-hosted games are expected to be the largest in history, featuring more than 11,000 athletes across 51 sports.

Trump voiced confidence in the games being a success despite declaring Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass “incompetent.”

The president last June deployed 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard members to LA to help protect federal buildings and tamp down anti-deportation rioting.

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Trump said during the wide-ranging interview that he wanted immigration officers to focus on the “worst of the worst” living illegally in the US — three days after saying in a White House briefing room appearance he told his team to “lighten up” on farm and restaurant workers without rap sheets.