U.S. President Donald Trump was seen sneakily pocketing a FIFA Club World Cup winners medal onstage moments before he handed Chelsea a replica trophy.
The president was given the medal to look at by Gianni Infantino while handing others out to the winning squad at New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium Sunday. Though videos showed Trump later tucked the medal into his suit blazer when the FIFA CEO seemingly reached for it back.
Infantino appeared to shrug off the incident, flashing the thumbs up and allowing Trump to keep the medal.
Eagle-eyed social media users were quick to react to the clip, which went viral over the weekend and following the game, with one labeling the brazen act “The Art of the Steal.” “He didn’t play a minute,” complained another.
It comes after Trump himself revealed that the winner’s trophy that he had handed to Chelsea captain Rhys James had actually been a replica, and that FIFA officials had given him the real silverware.
Before the showpiece game, held at the 80,000-seat stadium in New Jersey, Trump told broadcaster DAZN that the real trophy currently sits in the Oval Office, after it was gifted to him by Infantino during a visit in March.
“They said, ‘Could you hold this trophy for a little while?’ We put it in the Oval Office,” Trump said. “And then I said, ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy?’ He says, ‘We’re never going to pick it up. You can have it forever in the Oval Office. We’re making a new one.’”
“And they actually made a new one. So that was quite exciting…It’s in the Oval right now,” he added.
Soccer fans, and even the players themselves, were also baffled after the president also made no effort to leave the stage after presenting the fake trophy – opting instead to stand and clap alongside them.
Star player Cole Palmer, who scored two of Chelsea’s three goals in the victory over Paris St Germaine, was seen reacting with astonishment as Trump initially took pride of place next to James.
In a later interview, Palmer admitted: “I knew he was gonna be there but I didn’t know he was gonna be on the stand when we lifted the trophy so I was a bit confused.”
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