Top Republican floats wild idea that LA should be stripped of hosting 2028 Olympic games after ICE rioters set city on fire

A Republican is calling for the 2028 Olympic host city of Los Angeles to be stripped of the honor of hosting the games after anti-ICE riots have engulfed the liberal city in flames.

Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said he is unsure of LA’s ability to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup in light of the violence and distress rocking the city.

Moreno pointed to the realities of current political leadership at the state and local levels in California as the causes for his concern.

Moreno suggested that LA’s liberal leadership, who will still be in place in 2028, are ‘incapable of handling two big, high-profile’ event like the Olympics.

‘Won’t we be better off as a nation, just to make an acknowledgement of that and move it to someplace that actually will have law and order, that will have the proper amount of protections for American citizens and the tens of millions of visitors that are going to come to both of those events?’ Moreno added during a Senate hearing.

LA2028 CEO Reynold H. Hoover replied that he was confident California would be ready to display ‘America’s best’ when opening Olympic ceremonies kick off July 14, 2028.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) speaks during a hearing with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Capitol Hill on May 20, 2025 in Washington, DC 

An LA 2028 sign is seen in front of the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017

Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), also noted during the hearing that holding such premier international sporting events are ‘a great honor.’ 

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, who serves as the chair of the subcommittee during which Moreno’s exchange took place, noted that President Donald Trump was the one who pushed for the United States to host the Olympics in Los Angeles during his first term.

‘We’re going to continue to welcome the world to the United States,’ Lankford said Tuesday.

‘We want to make this the most secure, and demonstrate the freedom that happens here in the United States, and literally invite the world to come enjoy that freedom with us,’ Lankford also noted.

Moreno’s Tuesday exchange came one day after California Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez told CNN Monday that the rioters participating in the fiery Los Angeles ICE protests were no different than sports fans.

The California lawmaker also used the appearance to blast the Trump administration for sending both Marines and California National Guard members to the Golden State to deal to rioters who have set vehicles on fire and hurled bricks at law enforcement officers.

‘It’s no different than when a team wins a national championship and people get overexcited,’ Sanchez said, adding that the ‘vast majority of protestors have been peaceful.’

‘We have been calling for protestors to protest peacefully, that is their constitutional right. The vast majority of protestors have been peaceful. There are always a few bad actors.’

‘And yes, we think anybody who commits property damage ought to be arrested and ought to be prosecuted,’ Sanchez noted.

U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) speaks at the U.S. Capitol on May 10, 2023 in Washington, DC

Sanchez condemned Trump’s decision to deploy federal troops to handle civilian unrest as ‘authoritarian flexing’ that does not enhance anyone’s safety. 

‘Local law enforcement has said they can handle the protest, it’s no different than when a team wins a national championship & people get overexcited, and they overturn vehicles and light them on fire, local law enforcement is prepared to handle those types of situations,’ Sanchez claimed.

Just before Sanchez’s CNN appearance, it was announced that Trump would mobilize 700 Marines to LA to assist the California National Guard in quelling the protests.