Trump attends the Army-Navy game alongside key allies, nominees and Daniel Penny

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump was huddling with allies and a Republican cause célèbre at Saturday’s Army-Navy football game, taking in one of the most storied rivalries in college sports while spotlighting his emerging national security team.

Trump was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, embattled Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, potential backup defense secretary option Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and others for the 125th matchup between service academies.

Also attending was Daniel Penny, a military veteran who was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide this week in the chokehold death of an agitated subway rider in New York. Penny was invited by Vance, who accused prosecutors of trying to “ruin” Penny’s life by charging the Marine veteran in the death of Jordan Neely in 2023.

Trump arrived at Northwest Stadium just before kickoff and was greeted warmly by the crowd, which erupted in cheers when the president-elect, Vance and Elon Musk, who Trump has appointed to help lead a proposed Department of Government Efficiency, appeared on the scoreboard video screen.

The president mouthed “thank you” and the crowd erupted in a chant of “USA, USA!” Trump and his entourage took in the game from a suite at Northwest Stadium.

Trump, who attended Army-Navy games as president-elect in 2016 and during his first term, has been making an increasing number of public appearances before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. He was accompanied by his family and Vance on Thursday as he rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized as Time magazine’s person of the year.

Trump spent the weeks after the Nov. 5 election holed up at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida assembling a team to help lead his next administration.

He and his aides have become bullish about Hegseth’s chances of winning Senate confirmation. The Army combat veteran and former Fox News host’s chances of becoming defense secretary had appeared in peril amid allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat.

DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer who competed against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, is among the possible replacement candidates Trump has considered if Hegseth’s bid fizzles.

The mood appeared celebratory for Trump and his team on Saturday.

Hegseth along with fellow Army veterans Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump’s incoming national security adviser, and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence, posted a short video on X shortly before the game to make their allegiances clear.

“We love our Navy, except today” said Waltz, a retired Army National Guard colonel who did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.

“Go Army!” Gabbard added.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was among the lawmakers chatting up Trump at the game. He brought with him a contingent of other GOP lawmakers, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Pennsylvania Sen.-elect David McCormick, that vied for face time with the incoming president weeks before Republicans take control of the three branches of the federal government.

Johnson, who could be seen talking with the president-elect before kickoff, had said he would discuss with Trump plans for a legislative package that could move through Congress next year with a simple majority in the face of expected Democratic opposition.

Vance brou ght Penny, a fellow Marine veteran, as his guest. Penny was cleared of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death after a judge had dismissed a more serious manslaughter charge last week because the jury deadlocked on that count.

The case was a flashpoint in the long-standing debates over racial justice and as well as failures by New York City to address homelessness and mental illness, both of which Neely had struggled with.

“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance said in a post on X on Friday. “I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.”

Army (11-1) is ranked 19th in The Associated Press Top 25 after beating Tulane on Dec. 6 to win the American Athletic Conference — the first league title of any kind in the team’s 134-year history. Navy (8-3) was ranked earlier this season after starting with six straight victories

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Madhani reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

Noah Trister, Tara Copp And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press