The United States women’s hockey team has a date with Flavor Flav in Las Vegas in July to celebrate its gold medal victory from the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Under the heading “IT'S HAPPENING,” the rapper posted a note on his X account on Thursday, announcing he’s hosting a “She Got Game” weekend event from July 16-19 in partnership with MGM Resorts. The post said the event was being held to honor the women's hockey team and other female athletes, with details to follow. The message featured a picture of the U.S. women's hockey players celebrating in a circle.
A publicist for Flavor Flav confirmed the event without providing further details.
The women’s players worked on their own to accept the invitation, without input from USA Hockey, a person familiar with discussions told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
The person added that while the team is excited to attend, it’s unclear if the entire 23-player roster will be on hand because of potential scheduling conflicts.
The team has yet to determine whether to visit the White House after USA Hockey cited logistics and travel issues in politely declining President Donald Trump's invitation to join the U.S. men’s gold medal-winning team at his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
Flav is a long-time supporter of women's sports and attended various Olympic competitions this month. He posted his invitation on Monday, shortly after the women turned down the trip to Washington.
“If the USA Women’s Hockey team wants a real celebration and invite ,,, I’ll host them in Las Vegas. Do some nice dinners and shows and good times,” he wrote. “I’m sure I can get a hotel and airline to help me out here and celebrate these women for real for real.”
The women’s team was originally scheduled to fly commercially to New York on Monday, but was forced to reroute through Atlanta because of a snowstorm in the Northeast. The timing and storm made it difficult for the women to change plans as they returned to their Professional Women's Hockey League and college teams across the country.
The PWHL schedule resumed on Thursday with Montreal playing at New York following a month-long Olympic break, while college players open their conference playoffs this weekend.
In his address, Trump said plans were in the works to have the women’s team visit the White House, though it’s unclear when that could happen, USA Hockey said. The earliest the team could travel to Washington would be in late spring after the conclusion of the PWHL season.
The president’s invitation came late Sunday, when he called to congratulate the men for their 2-1 overtime win over Canada. The women’s team was still in Milan, three days after also beating Canada 2-1 in overtime.
In speaking to the men's team following their win, Trump said: “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” He later joked that if he didn’t extend the invitation, he would probably be impeached.
U.S. women’s captain Hilary Knight on Wednesday referred to the comment as being “distasteful and unfortunate.”
“I think just the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point and really shines light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats,” she said.
AP Olympic coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Megan Keller (5), covered in the U.S. flag, gets a hug from a teammate after the United States' women's ice hockey team stand after being presented with the gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
American rapper Flavor Flav, center, attends the skeleton mixed team competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Akmal Rajput)
U.S. players celebrate after a semifinal match of women's ice hockey between the United States and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A representative of the U.S. Attorney’s office testified in federal court on Thursday that the human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was justified while admitting that the charges coming two years after a traffic stop in question was “extraordinary.”
Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive, pushed by officials from President Donald Trump's administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States. He is seeking to have the charges dismissed.
While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That's because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. Abrego Garcia, 30, immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager but has an American wife and child. He has lived and worked in Maryland for years under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After he was deported to El Salvador last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration had to work to bring him back. He was eventually returned to the U.S. only to face criminal charges of human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty.
Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia after he was pulled over for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire, who was acting U.S. attorney in April 2025, testified that it was his decision to charge Abrego Garcia, and he did so based on the evidence.
“I had previously prosecuted several human smuggling cases,” McGuire testified. When he saw video of the traffic stop, “I was immediately struck by how similar what was being depicted in the body cam was to those investigations.”
Abrego Garcia was carrying nine people in a car without luggage, the car belonged to someone with “a human smuggling background,” and the route was suspicious, among other things, McGuire said.
He said he was in close contact with the Office of the Deputy Attorney General over the progress of the investigation but said that was common with high-profile cases.
On cross-examination, McGuire admitted that the timing of the charges, more than two years after the traffic stop, was “extraordinary.” McGuire said he had not previously been aware of the stop.
Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud, who ran the Nashville region at the time of Abrego Garcia’s deportation, testified Thursday that she first heard of the 2022 traffic stop in April 2025, when someone forwarded her a news article in the Tennessee Star, a conservative online publication. Saoud said she was aware of the publicity around Abrego Garcia, who at that point was still in El Salvador.
Saoud testified that she initiated the investigation and was under no pressure from higher-ups.
“If the facts did not add up, we would have ceased to move forward,” she said. “The case just kept getting stronger.”
On cross-examination, Saoud agreed that the case was not high profile because of the nature of the criminal allegations but because of who the defendant was. “Mr Abrego was in the news all the time at that point,” she said.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw previously found some evidence that the prosecution against Abrego Garcia, who arrived at the courthouse with his wife Thursday morning, “may be vindictive.” The judge said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.” He cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that seemed to suggest the Department of Justice charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful-deportation case.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys have been sparring with prosecutors for months over whether officials like Blanche would be required to testify at Thursday's hearing and what emails Department of Justice officials would have to turn over to them. McGuire has argued that he alone made the decision to prosecute, so the motives of other officials were irrelevant.
Crenshaw reviewed many of the disputed documents. In an order that was unsealed in late December, he wrote, “Some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, behind left, arrive at the federal courthouse Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, left, arrive at the federal courthouse Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, left, arrive at the federal courthouse Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, arrives at the federal courthouse Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives at the federal courthouse Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
FILE - Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
