Trump Hosts White House Events for Athletes, Military Mothers and Families of Crime Victims

President Donald Trump and MLB free agent pitcher Noah Syndergaard spent a day together at the White House on May 5, 2026. Syndergaard met with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness that day as part of a larger gathering of pro athletes. The group celebrated the reinstatement of the Presidential Fitness Test aimed at promoting exercise in public schools nationwide.

Trump and Syndergaard played catch with kids outside the White House on May 5, 2026. Syndergaard showed youngsters how to do pull-ups during the event. The activities underscored the fitness initiative’s focus on youth participation.

Syndergaard offered effusive praise for the president after their time together. “I’m envious of the mental energy that this guy has, the sharpness he has, the comedic nature of everything he says,” he stated. Syndergaard added, “I just really don’t quite understand the negativity or the pessimism he gets with the media and some of the population of this nation, because he’s just such a patriotic guy and he cares so much about everybody and just the health of this nation and the health of this world.

Trump returned the compliment. “Professional baseball pitcher, Noah Syndergaard, sometimes known as Thor, and he looks like Thor to me. That is a man that I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with,” the president stated about Syndergaard.

Three days later, on May 8, 2026, President Trump hosted a brunch at the White House Rose Garden for Angel Moms and Gold Star Mothers. The event formed part of a series of Mother’s Day observances. On Wednesday, May 6, 2026, Trump and first lady Melania Trump had hosted a separate Mother’s Day event honoring America’s military mothers.

At the May 8 brunch, Trump addressed the enduring pain of loss. “It used to be ’time heals all wounds,’ but it doesn’t. When you love somebody that much, [time] doesn’t help like it should,” he stated on May 8, 2026.

Tammy Nobles attended the White House brunch on May 8, 2026. S. illegally.

Walter Javier Martinez was sentenced to 70 years in prison in 2022. Anna Zartuska also attended the White House brunch on May 8, 2026. Her daughter Iryna Zartuska was stabbed to death by an illegal immigrant on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina in August.

Separately, the Department of Justice is investigating the NFL’s media deals. The probe follows events that began in February 2025 when Rupert Murdoch personally lobbied President Donald Trump at a White House dinner about NFL media rights. The Federal Communications Commission opened an inquiry into sports rights moving from broadcast TV to streaming shortly after February 2025.

Sen. Mike Lee urged the Justice Department to examine the NFL after the February 2025 lobbying. Eighty-three of the top 100 programs on TV in 2025 were NFL games, up from 72 of the top 100 programs on TV in 2024.

And the Wall Street Journal over its Jeffrey Epstein birthday-message story at the same time as the February 2025 lobbying. A federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal last month in April 2026. In other developments, traders placed bets totalling more than $7 billion right before major US announcements relating to the Iran war.

The irregular trades occurred ahead of White House announcements and prompted accusations of corruption. Since the start of his second term, President Donald Trump has increased his fortune by billions of dollars. Actor Mark Hamill posted an AI image of President Donald Trump in a shallow grave.

The White House called Mark Hamill 'sick' after his post.