Donald Trump recently commented on Fernando Mendoza, the former Indiana Hoosiers quarterback, missing the White House visit. Trump hosted the Indiana team at the White House on Monday to celebrate their College Football Playoff Championship victory from last year. Following Mendoza’s absence, Trump claimed that he got a call from the QB.
Donald Trump says he’s not happy as Fernando Mendoza skips event
Donald Trump has recently said that he was not “happy” that Fernando Mendoza missed the White House visit with the Indiana Hoosiers.
The Indiana team was present at the White House on Monday to commemorate their 2025 national championship with the President. While the team, along with Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, showed up for the visit, key figure and rising QB Mendoza was nowhere to be seen.
According to NBC Sports, addressing his absence, Trump said, “The reason he’s not here, he was so nice, he called because he has actually… he’s a big fan of ours. You wouldn’t believe it, because he didn’t show up. I’m not happy, but that’s OK. The reason he didn’t because he’s at spring training.”
Trump continued that, hearing his reason, he advised that Mendoza be present at his practice with the Las Vegas Raiders. Mendoza was the number one overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft for the Raiders. The President further stated that if the QB had missed the visit for other reasons, “like he didn’t like Trump or he didn’t want to come, I wouldn’t have even mentioned him. I’d talk about how great [the team was], I wouldn’t even mention the quarterback’s name.”
Previously, on May 2, Mendoza spoke to reporters about his plans for the White House visit. He shared that the Raiders’ OTAs are set to begin on May 18. Hence, he “can’t miss practice. I don’t have the calendar, but as a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look. I want to try to best serve my teammates, and I don’t know if that’d be accomplishing that goal.”
Originally reported by Ishita Verma on Mandatory
