Ali Krieger Says She ‘Refuse[s] To Respect’ Trump, U.S. Soccer Star Joins Megan Rapinoe In Criticizing Trump
U.S. Women’s Soccer star Ali Krieger did not mince words when asked about her feelings on Donald Trump, Yahoo News reports. She joins teammate Megan Rapinoe in having expressed open disdain for the 45th president.
Krieger sat down with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota this week, and of course, the subject between the ongoing feud between Donald Trump and some members of the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) came up. Specifically, Camerota asked Ali about how the battle is playing out on Twitter. Krieger said that she hasn’t been paying any attention to what Trump has had to say on Twitter. She said she and her team did, however, get a congratulatory tweet from Barack Obama, which she said made her “happy.”
When Camerota asked Krieger about her dispute with the POTUS, Krieger didn’t hold back.
“I refuse to respect a man that warrants no respect,” she said.
The dispute between Donald Trump and some members of the USWNT goes back to a couple of weeks ago, when Trump used Twitter to criticize forward Megan Rapinoe. Rapinoe has, for years, not put her hand over her heart or sung (or mouthed) the words to the national anthem while it’s played, which Trump criticized. Then, a months-old video surfaced in which Rapinoe said that, if the team was invited to the White House after winning the World Cup, she wouldn’t go. Trump suggested that Rapinoe should win before discussing post-championship White House invites.
U.S. women’s national soccer team star Ali Krieger has doubled down on her vow not to visit the White House in protest at President Donald Trump and his administration. https://t.co/OK5rMTG6de
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 4, 2019
Krieger responded to that with a tweet of her own, in which she said that she, too, would be sitting out a meeting with Trump.
In regards to the “President’s” tweet today, I know women who you cannot control or grope anger you, but I stand by @mPinoe & will sit this one out as well. I don’t support this administration nor their fight against LGBTQ+ citizens, immigrants & our most vulnerable.
— Ali Krieger (@alikrieger) June 26, 2019
Speaking to Camerota about the incident, Krieger said that she did so because she couldn’t allow her teammate, Rapinoe, to be “attacked.”
“I refuse to just sit back and watch an abuser bully, talk like that to my friend,” she said.
You can watch the interview in its entirety here.
Trump, for his part, has since said that the USWNT is invited to the White House, win or lose, after the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is over. Rapinoe will, of course, not be going. Neither will Krieger or, presumably, her fiancee, Orlando Pride and national team teammate Ashlyn Harris, to whom Krieger got engaged last year.
Also declining the White House invitation is Krieger’s teammate, Alex Morgan. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Morgan said months ago that she would not attend a post-championship meeting with Trump at the White House, should the team be invited.
