Donald Trump jokingly asked members of the famous 1980 'Miracle on Ice' hockey team if any of their players were Somalian in yet another jibe about the country's US-based immigrants.
The president invited America's iconic Olympic hockey champions to the White House on Friday to sign a bill in their honor, almost 46 years on from their historic triumph over the Soviet Union.
During the signing, former defenseman Bill Baker was captured shaking hands with Trump, 79, and telling him that he, like the majority of the team, is from Minnesota - the city with the largest Somali-American population in the US.
Given his recent attacks on the number of Somalian immigrants in Minnesota, which included a xenophobic jibe referring to them as 'garbage', Baker said to him: 'I'm from Minnesota, which I know right now that doesn't ring very well. Hopefully we can get that turned around.'
Trump then responded: 'Do we have any Somalians on the team? I don't think so.'
He was also heard naming Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has become embroiled in a feud with Trump amid his frequent tirades against Somalian immigrants in the city.
Donald Trump was heard making an awkward joke about Somalia to the 'Miracle on Ice' team
Trump recently said members of Minnesota's Somali community should be deported back to their home country.
'These are people that do nothing but complain. They complain, and from where they came from, they've got nothing,' he said amid heightened scrutiny on alleged Somali fraud in Minnesota.
Omar hit back at the Commander-in-Chief earlier this week, branding his comments 'disgusting'.
'These are Americans that he is calling garbage,' the representative told Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on Sunday.
'It’s disgusting. It’s completely disgusting.'
'And we feel like there is an unhealthy obsession that he has on the Somali community, and an unhealthy and creepy obsession that he has with me,' she continued.
After his dig at Minnesota, Trump awarded the 'Miracle on Ice' team Congressional Gold Medals for their iconic achievements almost half-a-century ago.
Members of the team have been noted fans of the Republican. In 2020, several former players joined him on stage at a rally in Las Vegas.
Trump was recently slammed by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar for calling America's Somalian immigrants in the city 'garbage'
Trump awarded the 'Miracle on Ice' team Congressional Gold Medals for their iconic achievements almost 46 years ago
The famous US hockey team beat a dominant Soviet Union and eventually won the gold medal
Team captain Mike Eruzione, goaltender Jim Craig and forward Buzz Schneider, in addition to around 10 other players, were all in attendance, along with the son of deceased coach Herb Brooks.
Dubbed the 'Miracle on Ice,' the motley crew of US college athletes, led by the late coaching legend Brooks, were able to topple the dominant Soviet Union team and eventually win the gold medal playing on home turf in Lake Placid, New York.
Having won gold in five of the previous six Olympics before 1980, the Soviet squad was comprised of professionals and was widely expected to trounce the US.
With an average age of 21, the US men's team was able to pull off what was thought to be impossible, winning 4-2. The American team went on to beat Finland two days later to win the Olympic gold medal.
'Do you believe in miracles? Yes!' broadcaster Al Michaels famously declared.
The game is often described as one of the most iconic moments in international sports.