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Ex-president Trump has yet again stated he would influence FIFA to pull global soccer tournament events from a venue based on municipal political climate, with the Boston region becoming the third targeted location to face such warnings from the American leader. Moreover, Trump suggested he would consider similar action against Los Angeles for the upcoming Olympic Games due to perceived safety issues.

Legal Authority and Potential Influence

While Trump holds no direct legal authority to unilaterally remove either event, he is able to lobby the organizing committees managing each tournament to move venues.

Setting for Statements

The comments were made during a news conference with Javier Milei, who was visiting the presidential residence following the announcement of a $20 billion financial assistance for the Latin American nation. Toward the end of the meeting, a journalist asked Trump about a latest unauthorized gathering in the city where police officers were assaulted and a patrol car was burned. The correspondent also wondered if such events could cause the removal of hosting duties for the larger World Cup.

“It's possible to take them away,” he said about the FIFA World Cup games, planned to be staged at the Foxborough venue. “Their mayor is ineffective … they're extremist, and they are dominating areas of the city. It's a major statement, right?”

Street Takeovers and Public Safety Concerns

Unauthorized gatherings, a online-fueled occurrence where participants assemble on urban roads after dark to conduct vehicular acrobatics, have become a repeated nuisance in US urban areas since the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns. Recent incidents have become aggressive in Massachusetts, including downtown. Nevertheless, these gatherings are generally not seen as tied to any particular political ideology.

“In cases where someone is performing poorly, and I feel exist security risks, I would call the FIFA head, who is phenomenal, and tell him it should be shifted to another location,” the former president stated publicly. “He will do that. He might not prefer the action, but he’d do it. Very easily, he’d do it.”

Political Connections

FIFA President has been open his efforts to be visibly associated with Trump ahead of the upcoming World Cup, set to be hosted in 11 cities across the US along with several in Canada and multiple in Mexico. The FIFA president has participated at various Oval Office functions, facilitated Trump hand over the club tournament cup after the concluding game, and has even postponed his FIFA's internal meeting to join Trump on a visit to the Arab region this year.

Previous Threats

This has not stopped, Trump from threatening the removal of FIFA World Cup matches from different locations. Recently, the Washington city and San Francisco came under parallel criticism, with Trump claiming both urban centers were “run by radical left lunatics who lack understanding what they are doing,” while challenging the security conditions of both locales and implying that matches could be shifted.

Official Rebuttal

Victor Montagliani dismissed Trump’s statements when he commented afterward at a conference in the UK capital.

“It is FIFA’s tournament, under our authority, we decide such choices,” he stated. “Respectfully to sitting presidents, football is transcends political figures and the game will outlast their administration and their government. That is the strength of our game, that it is more significant than any individual and beyond a nation.”

2028 Comments

Similarly, Trump’s response to a inquiry about Boston included a similar threat regarding the LA Olympic event.

“When I believed LA was not going to be sufficiently organized, I would move it to a different city if necessary,” he said. “For the Olympics I’d probably have to get a different kind of consent, but we will do that.”

Any approval Trump refers to would have to come from the IOC. Their leader, the newly elected president, was chosen to her post in this year and has so far not meet publicly with the former president, but she stated that she would like a sit-down with him at some point.

Additional Criticism

The former president also criticized California governor Newsom’s handling of the LA wildfires, saying that a parallel incident could lead to the relocation of the Games.

“If the governor refuses to cooperate, we will have to be strict,” the former president commented.

The warning was equally clear for Boston.

“Boston must improve their situation,” Trump stated. “That’s all my message.”