LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Chloe Kim and Eileen Gu, two Olympic standouts who have faced their share of hate over the years, each weighed in Monday on Donald Trump's bashing of their friend, American freeskier Hunter Hess, for having said he didn't back the U.S. president's heightened crackdown on immigrants.
“I think in moments like these, it is really important for us to unite and kind of stand up for one another for all that’s going on," said Kim, the two-time Olympic gold medalist whose parents are South Korean immigrants and who has faced racism throughout her career for her Asian heritage.
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United States' Chloe Kim, center, speaks as Bea Kim, left, and Madeline Schaffrick look on during a press conference at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FILE - Hunter Hess, of the United States, executes a trick in the halfpipe finals during the World Cup U.S. Grand Prix freestyle skiing event in Copper Mountain, Colo., Dec. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Hugh Carey, File)
Silver medalist China's Eileen Gu celebrates after the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
United States' Chloe Kim looks on during a press conference at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Gu, the American-born freeskier who competes for China, said after her silver-medal win in slopestyle that she had been in touch with Hess, who told her she was one of the few people who could relate to what he's going through.
“As someone who’s been caught in the crossfire before, I feel sorry for the athletes,” said Gu, who was born in San Francisco and whose decision to compete for China turned her into a lightning rod.
Hess drew Trump’s ire when he was asked by reporters to give his views on the immigration crackdown that has claimed the lives of two protestors in Minnesota and disrupted thousands of lives of immigrants and U.S. citizens. Hess answered: “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”
The next day, Trump lashed out at Hess on his Truth Social account, calling him “a real Loser” and saying he would be hard pressed to root for him at the Games. Hess's friends — snowboarders and freeskiers competing this week in Livigno — were asked for their reaction.
“My parents being immigrants from Korea, this one definitely hits pretty close to home,” said Kim, who begins defense of her title Wednesday.
"I’m really proud to represent the United States,” she said. “The U.S. has given my family and I so much opportunity, but I also think that we are allowed to voice our opinions of what’s going that we need to lead with love and compassion.”
Other American snowboarders spoke out for diversity and the right of expression.
“I think there are a lot of different opinions in the U.S. right now. Obviously we’re very divided,” snowboarder Bea Kim said. “I personally am very proud to represent the United States. That being said, I think diversity is what makes us a very strong country and what makes that so special.”
Teammate Maddie Mastro added: “I’m also saddened with what’s happening at home."
“It’s really tough and I feel like we can’t turn a blind eye to that. But at the same time, I represent a country that has the same values as mine of kindness and compassion. And we come together in times of injustice,” Mastro said.
Gu called it “an unwinnable press war” for Hess and lamented the fact that the controversy could be a distraction for the athletes, and overshadow the beauty of the biggest event in winter sports.
“I’m sorry that the headline that is eclipsing the Olympics has to be something so ... unrelated to the spirit of the Games," she said. "It really runs contrary to everything that the Olympics should be.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Chloe Kim, center, speaks as Bea Kim, left, and Madeline Schaffrick look on during a press conference at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FILE - Hunter Hess, of the United States, executes a trick in the halfpipe finals during the World Cup U.S. Grand Prix freestyle skiing event in Copper Mountain, Colo., Dec. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Hugh Carey, File)
Silver medalist China's Eileen Gu celebrates after the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
United States' Chloe Kim looks on during a press conference at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
As media organizations go, NewsGuard cuts a low public profile as it follows its mission of issuing credibility ratings about news outlets. The Trump administration knows about it, though, and the company has joined a lengthening list of journalism organizations to face the White House's wrath.
A dispute between President Donald Trump's regulators and the news monitoring service has spilled into court, with NewsGuard Technologies suing the Federal Trade Commission and its chairman, Andrew Ferguson, to shut down an investigation. The FTC accuses the company of trying to suppress conservative speech. NewsGuard says it is being forced to kneel before vindictive power.
Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, the Republican administration has fought The Associated Press in court over the outlet's claim it is being punished for not adopting his preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico; settled with CBS News' corporate parent in a dispute over “60 Minutes” editing; sued The Wall Street Journal for its reporting on Trump and Jeffrey Epstein; and is in a legal fight with The New York Times over Pentagon reporting restrictions.
NewsGuard’s lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, accuses Trump’s FTC of “brazenly using its power not for any issue concerning trade or commerce but rather to censor speech simply because it disagreed with NewsGuard’s judgments about the reliability of news sources.”
The FTC calls NewsGuard’s accusations “untethered from both law and fact.”
Like the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr, Ferguson’s FTC is a normally sleepy federal agency that has sprung to life to address issues of importance to Trump and his supporters, particularly involving the media. The FCC has launched investigations of media companies and this weekend Carr, responding to a Trump complaint about negative coverage of the Iran war, warned broadcasters “running hoaxes and news distortions” to correct course or see their licenses threatened.
Ferguson has made no secret about where he takes his cues. He said in an interview in July that “I am a law enforcer, and I will follow the law. But the policy priorities are set by the man the people chose to run this government.”
The liberal lobbying group Media Matters for America was one of his targets. A federal judge last summer halted an FTC investigation over efforts to promote advertising boycotts of companies the group opposes, saying the inquiry violated MMA's free speech rights.
While NewsGuard may not be a big name, money is at stake for news outlets friendly to the president. The company began in 2018, started by Court TV founder Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, a former Journal publisher. NewsGuard uses journalists to examine thousands of news outlets and websites, giving them ratings based on the credibility and reliability of their journalism.
A monthly subscription costs $4.95. Much of its business comes from companies that advise advertisers where to hawk their products, showing them which news sites may be toxic to their brands, and artificial intelligence companies looking to see where they would be more likely to find information they could trust.
NewsGuard made an enemy of the Trump-friendly television network Newsmax, giving its website a 20 on a scale where 100 is the best score. NewsGuard says “this website is unreliable because it severely violates basic journalism standards.” Newsmax has since repeatedly urged Republican lawmakers or regulators to do what they can to silence NewsGuard, the company said in its lawsuit.
“NewsGuard was started by Steve Brill to target conservative media and get ad agencies to deny them advertising revenue as a means of censorship,” Newsmax spokesman Bill Daddi said. “Brill is a Democratic Party activist and donor over many decades with a long history of advocating for liberal causes. He is not a respected journalist and in no way should be running a ratings service used by major ad agencies.”
Brill said his only political activity was working for Republican John Lindsay, New York City's mayor in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while a college and law school student. “I have been a journalist ever since,” Brill said, adding that he has not donated money to any politicians.
NewsGuard says its ratings are based on clearly defined criteria, such as whether or not an outlet publishes false or misleading material, whether it distorts arguments and uses multiple sources, whether it distinguishes between news and opinion and regularly corrects errors. To counter charges that it unfairly boosted liberals, the company noted times where Fox News scored higher in its ratings than the former MSNBC.
Yet the conservative Media Research Center has published studies contending that NewsGuard is more likely to give higher ratings to outlets with a liberal bent. In court papers, the FTC said it began investigating NewsGuard because congressional investigators connected the company's services to “coordinated actions to demonize disfavored media entities.”
The agency has asked the company to produce reams of internal documents, emails, financial reports and subscriber lists dated to its founding. Not only does NewsGuard consider that task unduly expensive and burdensome, it worries that regulators will use that information to target its subscribers.
The FTC, as a condition to approving a merger of two of the world's biggest media buying firms, Omnicom and IPG, prohibited the new company from using a service that reviews and rates news sites. That is designed to eliminate the company's ability to deny advertising based on politics, the agency said.
It has already cost NewsGuard business, the company asserts.
“The whole idea that any speaker has to justify to the government that it's not biased is a really troubling thought,” Brill said in an interview. “We have a constitutional right to be biased. It just so happens that we started the company on the core principle that we were going to be totally apolitical.”
The FTC's press department did not return a message seeking comment. But in court papers, the agency said it was conducting a broad investigation into whether advertiser boycotts violated antitrust laws and that it has issued more than a dozen orders for information similar to the one given to NewsGuard. The company's charges are “completely meritless,” the agency said.
If its order was so demanding, the FTC wondered why it took NewsGuard eight months after it was issued to sue.
“We tried to cooperate in the belief that the more that we told them what we do, the more likely it would be that they would decide that they didn't have any case,” Brill said. “We soon realized that they weren't worried about the merits.”
The company argues that the FTC actions “will continue until NewsGuard knuckles under.” Asked if he thought the government agency's goal was to put his company out of business, Brill declined to comment.
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference, Monday, March 9, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - The Federal Trade Commission building is seen, Jan. 28, 2015, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
