© Patrick Semansky Mike Eruzione said he was surprised at the outrage provoked by his appearance with President Trump. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)

If he had to do it again, hockey legend Mike Eruzione said, he would not put on the red ‘‘Keep America Great’’ hat.

He and his teammates from the 1980 US Olympic hockey squad hadn’t meant to make a grand political statement when they appeared onstage as President Trump’s surprise guests at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Friday.

They happened to be in town to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ‘‘Miracle on Ice’’ — their shocking upset of the Soviet Union en route to the gold medal, perhaps the most unifying moment in American sports history — when they got a call from Trump’s campaign inviting them to a private photo line with the president.

The next thing they knew, Eruzione said, Trump was introducing them at the rally and a campaign aide was handing them the caps as they took the stage. Four of the former players chose not to wear them — but 10 others did, prompting a huge backlash on social media from Trump’s critics, who view the distinctive red campaign hats as sharply politicized symbols of hate, racism, and xenophobia.

‘‘You going to light into me, too? We’re getting killed!’’ Eruzione said in an interview. Now serving as the director of special outreach at his alma mater, Boston University, Eruzione said he has received angry calls and messages from the school’s alumni. One said he purchased Eruzione’s new book about the 1980 team but no longer intends to read it. His Twitter mentions are a nightmare. One message read: ‘‘In 1980, you beat the Russians, and yesterday the Russians beat you.’’

Trump’s supporters have accused his critics of overreacting to the hats and, in doing so, demonstrating their own political intolerance. Eruzione also expressed surprise at the outrage provoked by his appearance with Trump. A member of the president’s golf club in Jupiter, Fla., Eruzione, who said he voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and Trump in 2016, once appeared on Trump’s former reality show ‘‘Celebrity Apprentice.’’

Eruzione ruefully compared the backlash against the team with the joy in 1980 when they were hailed as heroes amid Cold War tensions. During the interview, he called up his Twitter account and began reading some of the angry tweets over the phone: ‘‘Did they have to wear those hats? . . . A shame on all of you for wearing those divisive, racist hats. . . . ”

Washington Post

Trump applauds convictions against producer Weinstein

President Trump on Tuesday hailed the sexual assault convictions against Harvey Weinstein as a ‘‘great victory’’ for women and sought to distance himself from the once-powerful movie producer while suggesting prominent Democrats ‘‘loved him.’’

Speaking at wide-ranging news conference in India, Trump said that he had not closely followed the news of Weinstein’s convictions Monday in a New York courtroom but that he sensed a strong message coming from a landmark case for the #MeToo era.

‘‘I think that from the standpoint of women, I think it was a great thing,’’ Trump told reporters. Trump, who has denied accusations of sexual misconduct against him leveled by more than a dozen women, said that he was ‘‘never a fan of Harvey Weinstein, as you know.’’

Washington Post

Clinton says she’ll support Democratic nominee

BERLIN — Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, has expressed her skepticism about Senator Bernie Sanders but says she will support the Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Clinton, who beat Sanders for the Democratic nomination only to lose the 2016 election to President Trump, made comments about Sanders in the new documentary “Hillary” saying “nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him.”

But in comments at the Berlinale film festival Tuesday where she was promoting the four-hour documentary that will debut on Hulu in March, Clinton said her top priority was unseating Trump.

“I’m going to wait and see who we nominate,” she said. “I will support the nominee, and it won’t surprise you to hear me say that I think that it’s imperative that we retire the incumbent.”

Associated Press