Trump attends Army-Navy game

President Trump attended the annual Army-Navy football game Saturday and officiated the pre-match coin toss on the field flanked by top military officials.

The president, who missed last year’s game after attending the event in 2016 as the president-elect, was joined on-field by top members of the military including Defense Secretary James Mattis, who watched as a smiling Trump tossed the coin following a moment of silence for former President George H.W. Bush.

President Trump with the coin toss before #ArmyNavyGame

(via @CBS) pic.twitter.com/lPLIFqIxTm

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 8, 2018

The annual football game between the Naval Academy in Annapolis and the Military Academy at West Point is a major tradition dating back to 1890 that has been attended by multiple former presidents.{mosads}

Trump was joined for Saturday’s game by a delegation of top military brass and members of the White House, including the secretaries of the Army, Navy, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

The president joked in 2016 that while the two teams were not the top college football teams in the country, he enjoyed watching the “spirit” of the two academies in competition.

“I mean, I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best football, but it’s very good,” Trump told sportscasters during a pre-game interview in 2016.

“But boy do they have spirit, more than anybody, it’s beautiful,” he added.

According to pool reports, Trump is expected to divide his time at the game evenly between the Army and Navy sides of the stadium, following the practice he employed in 2016.