President Trump seemed a little salty on Friday after telling a news outlet that he hasn’t heard from any NFL players since he’s extended the invite of a presidential pardon.
Trump appeared on Fox News and was asked about his comment he made last week on television encouraging athletes to recommend people they may know for clemency who have been treated unequally by the criminal justice system, TMZ reported. Trump said zero football players have reached out to him and questioned their stance against social injustice.
“No, I haven’t heard [from them],” the president said nonchalantly. “They’re all saying, ‘Oh, it has nothing to do with the flag, it’s the way we’ve been treated.’ In the meantime, they’re making $15 million a year.”
He continued, “Maybe they’ve called the staff but I’ve not personally heard from one … because I don’t know if it’s a real issue. I don’t think it’s a real issue.”
After the release of Alice Johnson last week, Trump welcomed NFL players to “recommend to me people that were unfairly treated and I’m gonna take a look at those applications and if I find and my committee finds that they’ve been unfairly treated then we’ll pardon them. Or at least let them out.”
The NFL protests began in 2016 when football player Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem. Other athletes have since continued the anthem protests.
