Trump to go to the Super Bowl—first sitting president ever to do so

President Donald Trump is planning to attend Sunday’s Super Bowl game in New Orleans, becoming the first sitting president to attend America’s biggest sporting event. Super Bowl LIX will be between the Kansas City Chiefs, the 2024 winners, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The news of Trump attending the event was first reported by Punchbowl News and confirmed by federal law enforcement sources to the New York Post. Trump’s attendance at the game, which will be held at New Orleans’ Caesar’s Superdome just over a month after a terrorist attack left 14 dead and dozens injured on Bourbon Street, will require an extra layer of security.

Trump will be the first sitting president to attend the game. Multiple vice presidents have attended the games, including Spiro Agnew in 1971 in Miami, then-VP George HW Bush in 1982 in Michigan, and Al Gore in 1994 in Atlanta. Bush attended Super Bowl XXXVI as a former president, taking part in the coin toss. The second inauguration of Ronald Reagan coincided with Super Bowl Sunday on January 20, 1985, marking the first time this occurred. Reagan performed the game’s coin toss via satellite from the Oval Office.

Just hours into the new year in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar rammed an electric Ford pickup truck into a crowd killing 14 and injuring dozens of others. FBI said that Jabbar had been "inspired" by ISIS and had joined the terrorist organization "before this summer." An ISIS flag was recovered from the vehicle. He had told his neighbors in Houston that he was moving to a furnished apartment in New Orleans for a better job.