(NewsNation) — President Trump on Friday hosted members of the 1980 U.S. men’s ice hockey team, which has become synonymous with the phrase “Miracle on Ice,” and signed a measure that will award them Congressional Gold Medals.
Several members or their representatives were present at the Oval Office, wearing replicas of the white cowboy hats the athletes wore at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., 45 years ago. Trump himself received — and wore — one of them.
The scrappy team of American amateurs famously upset the Soviet Union 4-3 during the height of the Cold War before subsequently defeating Finland, 4-2, for the gold.
“They reached the ultimate peak,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., representing the state from which many of the champions came. “And when they did it … they lifted an entire country out of the ditch and set us off to an amazing several decades that followed.”
The largely jovial ceremony at the White House featured a few political diversions, as Trump bashed Democrats who control Minnesota state government and Minneapolis Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Somali American.
During questioning from reporters, the president was asked about a new batch of photographs Democrats released showing Jeffrey Epstein with a variety of celebrities, including Trump. Epstein, who died awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019, has become a political albatross to the Trump administration.
“I haven’t seen them, but everybody knew this man,” Trump said. “He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody.”