Stunned silence and awkward laughs in Oval Office at Texas senator's FIFA admission

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stunned the Oval Office Monday into a brief moment of silence after openly admitting to President Donald Trump’s meddling in a FIFA World Cup game – an acknowledgement that later elicited awkward laughter from those in the room. Last week, Folarin Balogun, who plays for the U.S. national team, received a red card, a penalty that carries a one-game suspension. However, reporting from Politico revealed that Trump’s inner circle had mobilized within minutes to intervene and were ultimately successful in getting Balogun’s suspension overturned. Cruz, while attending an Oval Office ceremony for the launch of “ Trump Accounts ,” not only acknowledged Trump’s alleged involvement in FIFA’s decision, but thanked the president directly for it. “On behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card,” Cruz said. The seven people surrounding Cruz let out a hushed round of nervous laughter before falling silent. Trump grinned as those in the room exchanged glances. After several seconds, Trump, still grinning, proclaimed Cruz’s remark to be “interesting,” eliciting another round of awkward laughter. “It was spectacular!” Cruz said. “There was a reason the FIFA trophy stood here for as long as it did.” Trump's interference in FIFA to un-suspend red-carded American footballer Folarin Balogun has triggered a firestorm of outrage in the European Union. "We respect the autonomy of sport, and we respect the right of sports federations to decide on the criteria under which participants compete,” said European Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova, according to Politico. She continued that “any such decision should, obviously, be made on the basis of objective and transparent criteria,” and “the EU supports the principle of fair play and transparent competition.” Hrncirova, however, had one of the gentler responses. The Union of European Football Associations put out a statement saying, "Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line. Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not." Meanwhile, Glenn Micallef, the European Commissioner for Sport, stated on X that while he personally disagreed with the suspension as a fan, "Decisions on sporting rules and sporting matters belong to sporting bodies, not politicians" and for politicians to put pressure on sporting bodies "would undermine the autonomy of sport." All of this comes as Infantino's close relationship to Trump has come under heavy scrutiny and criticism, including his move to create a "FIFA Peace Prize" and award it to the U.S. president after he spent weeks complaining about not winning a Nobel. On Sunday, Ben Jacobs, senior football correspondent for GiveMeSport, reported that FIFA decided to overturn Balogun's suspension after the Trump White House "made a direct call" to FIFA and asked president Gianni Infantino to look at the case. "Possible corruption and cheating aside, hilarious that the Trump administration [was] allegedly pushing hard to reinstate a player who is a literal birthright citizen," Mehdi Hasan, founder of Zeteo News, posted on X. "His pregnant mother gave birth to him on a visit because the airline wouldn’t let her board her return flight." "Under FIFA rules, the US should now be suspended from competition. Of course, this won't happen," Alonso Gurmendi, a fellow in human rights at LSE Sociology, wrote in a social media post on X. "Good to see Trump protecting birthright citizenship," Matthew Ygelsias, a columnist for The New York Times, posted on X. "FIFA has explicit statutes preventing political or government interference. This should be a resigning matter for a repeatedly disgraced FIFA President," Tim Stillman, a football writer for ArseBlog.com, posted on X. "As a fan, I am obviously overjoyed that Balogun will get to play and that this injustice was corrected," Tommy Vietor, co-host of "Pod Save America," posted on X. "But man, does this look awful for FIFA, and it will make the rest of the world feel like the tournament was rigged."