Joshua Robinson

And he was unbelievably charming, not even a little bit contrite.

And he argued that this was all a big conspiracy, that the U.S.

was upset about not winning the hosting rights, had sicked the DOJ on FIFA, and that he would ultimately be cleared by history.

Exactly.

And as always, a few bad apples within the organization.

But his real takeaway was, why are they looking at us?

They have no business here.

We'll be watching very closely to see what kind of reception American athletes get here in Italy.

And that starts with the opening ceremony.

Vice President J.D.

Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both expected to be in attendance, and no one's quite sure how they'll be received.

So the exciting thing for Americans is that they may actually break their record of most gold medals at a Winter Olympics.

Leading the charge is going to be U.S.

figure skater Ilya Malinin.

He's considered a lock to win gold, and that's because he is the man known as the Quad God, the specialist in the quadruple axel that was once thought impossible.

Less certain is the status of U.S.

skier Lindsey Vonn, who's probably the most famous American skier in the world.

She's making an incredible comeback at age 41 on a partially reconstructed knee.

The problem is that about a week before she was due to race on Sunday, she injured the other knee and tore her ACL.

Now she's said she's going to try it anyway and ski without that ACL.