Donald Trump Is Offering Players Who Protest The National Anthem A Deal
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump pardoned a 63-year-old woman named Alice Marie Johnson who was serving a life sentence for a non-violent drug conviction after celebrity Kim Kardashian made a personal plea at the White House. Now, it looks like Trump could be using his ability to pardon as part of negotiations with NFL players who protest the national anthem.
Trump, speaking Friday in front of reports ahead of the G7 summit, offered somewhat of a deal to the players who continue to protest. He says he and his team will consider pardoning people who the players believe have been treated unfairly by the justice system. Here's the quote:
"What I'm thinking to do, you have a lot of people in the NFL in particular, but in sports leagues. They're not proud enough to stand for the national anthem, I don't like that.
What I'm going to do is, I'm going to say to them, instead of talk, it's all talk, talk, talk. We have a great country, you should stand for our national anthem. You shouldn't go in a locker room when our national anthem is playing.
I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me, because that's what they're protesting, people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system. And I understand that. And I'm going to ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated - friends of theirs or people that they know about.
And I'm going to take a look at those applications. And if I find, and my committee, finds that they were unfairly treated, then we will pardon them, or at least let them out.
...I don't have to do that. I'm not looking to grandstand. We've got enough grandstanders in this town. I'm just saying for the leagues, if they have people, if the players, if the athletes, have friends of theirs or people that they know about who have been treated unfairly by the system, let me know."
Trump also said he's considering pardoning Muhammad Ali.
Here's video, via MSNBC:
So far, no NFL players have responded in any kind of official manner. It'll be interesting to see what they think about Trump's quotes.
