President Donald Trump repeatedly “implored” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to have his players stand for the national anthem in advance of their Monday Night Football game against the Arizona Cardinals, a new report reveals.
The team’s decision to kneel and then stand for the national anthem, Trump tweeted, was acceptable.
The booing at the NFL football game last night, when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees, was loudest I have ever heard. Great anger
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017
But while Dallas dropped to its knees as a team, they all stood up for our National Anthem. Big progress being made-we all love our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017
Trump admitted to calling Jones to discuss players who were kneeling to raise awareness of police brutality against Black people. (As president, Trump has advocated for police brutality.)
Spoke to Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Jerry is a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017
While Trump was projecting the aura of big shot dealmaker—saying he told Jones how his players should behave and Jones listening—the story now reported sounds slightly different.
According to Ian Rappaport of NFL Network, it took Trump four phone calls while Jones was in the locker room to find a compromise with the Dallas team.
This week teams have anthem plans. It was tense last week, with @realDonaldTrump calling Jerry Jones 4 times & imploring him not to kneel: pic.twitter.com/D8jvrV4Aze
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 1, 2017
At her press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the kneeling controversy was not affecting the president’s focus on more pressing issues because it does not take that much time to send a tweet.
H/T the Hill
