World Series fans greet Trump with boos, chants

[October 29, 2019]  By Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted with boos and a smattering of chants of "Lock him up!" when he appeared on screen at the World Series in Washington on Sunday, even as he celebrated one of the biggest wins of his administration.

Trump appeared on a display screen at the Washington Nationals Park stadium between innings of the Game 5 match-up between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros.

The president, along with first lady Melania Trump and several lawmakers, appeared live on the screen as part of a video package thanking U.S. troops for their service.

The hometown crowd cheered fans and soldiers displayed earlier on the screen, but there were boos and isolated "Lock him up" chants when Trump appeared.

Trump later left the stadium an inning before the end of the game, which was won by the visiting Astros.

The frosty reception came on the day Trump announced the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, in a raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria.

Trump won just 4 percent of the vote in the District of Columbia in the 2016 presidential election. The U.S. capital is hosting its first World Series since 1933.

President Donald Trump waves to the crowd during game five of the 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Trump did not throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the game, as many previous presidents have done. That task fell instead to celebrity chef Jose Andres, who founded a nonprofit group to feed disaster victims around the world.

Andres also canceled plans to run a restaurant in Trump's Washington hotel because of Trump's disparaging comments about Mexicans, which led to a legal settlement.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Nandita Bose; Editing by Paul Tait and Peter Graff)

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