US Soccer Federation chief executive JT Batson sidestepped questions about whether the organization regrets Donald Trump's intervention in the World Cup during a media roundtable on Thursday.
Instead, he focused on the tournament's domestic fan support.
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The controversy stems from Trump making multiple phone calls to FIFA president Gianni Infantino to lobby for a review of American forward Folarin Balogun's red card received during a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FIFA ultimately suspended the one-match ban, allowing Balogun to play in the round-of-16 match against Belgium.
However, the governing body denied that Trump's repeated calls influenced the decision.
The US team subsequently lost 4-1 to Belgium, leading to speculation that the off-field drama distracted the squad.
When journalists repeatedly pressed Batson on whether US Soccer regretted the political involvement, the executive declined to express remorse.
"The president is able to do what the president wants to do," Batson said. "The president is the president of the United States.
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Obviously we're incredibly grateful for all the support, for all of our fans across the country, wherever they are and we're excited about that and we know that that will pay dividends moving forward."
Following continued questioning regarding federation regrets over the political outreach, Batson abruptly ended the media roundtable about 10 minutes ahead of its scheduled one-hour duration.
"We're done, we gotta go," Batson said. "I'm sorry."
Balogun, whose red card was shown after he stepped on an opponent's ankle, previously addressed the situation in an interview with CBS, noting that the external debate created a unique environment for the roster.
"I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it was something that's so unique," Balogun said.
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"But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could."
