The Swiss Army said it could reprimand world champion mountain biker Nino Schurter for posting a picture of his ass, along with the asses of three others, in front of the White House and tagging Donald Trump.


The picture, captioned “White [peach emoji] for the White House,” was posted early this month and caused a stir in Switzerland, according to Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. However, the army only addressed the photo last week after Tages-Anzeiger discovered that Schurter had been in the U.S. not on personal business but as a soldier representing the army.

Schurter posed with teammates, identified by swissinfo.ch as Florian Vogel, Lars Forster, and mechanic Kurt Gross, all of whom were on their way to the Mountain Bike World Cup in West Virginia.


The cheeky photo-op wasn’t premeditated, Schurter said in a public apology for the picture, but it was expressly meant as a thumbing-of-the-nose to Trump, who, unlike the U.S. as a whole, Schurter is no fan of. As he told Swiss tabloid Blick:

The photo was a spontaneous one. America is a magnificent country and I love traveling there. But I do not have much fondness for the current leadership.

Army spokesman Daniel Reist told Tages-Anzeiger that Schurter was in the U.S. in his capacity as an elite athlete of the army, and that he could face punishment. From swissinfo.ch:

“Mr Schurter’s commanding officer will deal with the matter in a proportionate but disciplinary way,” added Reist. The cyclist may face a reprimand but what the punishment would be is up to the commanding officer and won’t be made public. Reist also defended Schurter, saying that cyclist had previously behaved in an exemplary way when representing the army and this was his first slip. Schurter has already apologised to his superior officer.


The Guardian reported on Friday that the “33-year-old racer faces a possible warning from his senior officers over the incident this month, though any disciplinary action will not be announced.”



Can’t wait for Trump to tweet about it!