Trump celebrates the Super Bowl champ Eagles at White House, but star QB Jalen Hurts skips ceremony

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump feted the 2025 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles at the White House on Monday, but several players, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, decided to skip the celebration.

Hurts and other players cited scheduling conflicts as the reasons for their absences, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Still, Trump called Hurts a “terrific guy and terrific player” who turned in “one stellar performance after another” in helping the Eagles to a 14-3 regular season and their Super Bowl run.

“The Eagles have turned out to be an incredible team, an incredible group," Trump said.

In his first term, Trump invited and then canceled a celebration for the Eagles in 2018 after the franchise’s first Super Bowl title. He instead threw his own brief “Celebration of America” after it became clear most players weren’t going to show up.

Asked by a reporter on the red carpet of the Time magazine gala last week whether he would take part in the White House visit, Hurts responded with an awkward “um” and long silence before walking away.

Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley visited Trump over the weekend at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and caught a ride with the president to Washington on Air Force One and then to the White House on Marine One.

“He loved it,” Trump said of Barkley's short flight on the presidential airplane. “He’s a great young guy and an incredible football player. Saquon had a season for the ages, running behind the most powerful offensive line in the NFL,” Trump said.

Barkley, meanwhile, pushed back on social media criticism earlier Monday for spending time with Trump. He noted that he has golfed with former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

“Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand,” Barkley posted on X.

Barkley ran away with the Offensive Player of the Year award this past season after rushing for 2,005 yards, eighth-best in NFL history. It was his first season with the Eagles.

Trump attended the Eagles' decisive Super Bowl victory in New Orleans over the Kansas City Chiefs. He predicted ahead of the game the Chiefs would win, and offered lavish praise for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

After the game, Trump mocked pop star Taylor Swift, who is dating Mahomes’ teammate Travis Kelce. Swift faced boos from some fans at one point during the game when she appeared on the Jumbotron.

Swift had endorsed Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, in the 2024 election.

“The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump made a nod to the moment at Monday's ceremony.

“I watched in person, I was there along with Taylor Swift,” Trump said. “How did that work out?”

Ivanka Trump walks with two of her children before President Donald Trump welcomes the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team to the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump arrives with head coach Nick Sirianni, left, to welcome the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team to the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks as he welcomes the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team to the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump, left, shakes the hand of Philadelphia Eagles NFL football player Lane Johnson as Johnson presents Trump with a jersey during a ceremony welcoming the Super Bowl champion team to the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump, right, shakes the hand of Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, as Trump welcomes the Super Bowl champion NFL football team to the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump with his grandson, Theodore Kushner, fourth from left, talks to Philadelphia Eagles football player Saquon Barkley, left, and other guests as he arrives at the White House, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump, left, walks with Philadelphia Eagles football player Saquon Barkley before boarding Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Morristown, N.J. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Honoree Jalen Hurts attends the Time100 Gala, celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world, at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday, April 24, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

President Donald Trump arrives on Marine One at the White House, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)