The White House’s World Cup Taskforce chief has defended to ban a Somali referee from entering the US, citing alleged links to “bad actors”. Omar Artan, who was set to become the first person from his country to officiate at the World Cup, has been banned from entering despite holding a diplomatic passport and a single-entry US visa. Explaining the decision to Sky News on Tuesday (9 June), Andrew Giuliani said that “anybody who is communicating with bad actors that plant harm against the US is not going to be admitted”. When pressed further on this, Mr Giuliani said he could not go into further detail. “What I can tell you is that we’re going to make sure this is a safe and secure tournament.”