Comment on Trump administration officials play defense over backlash to his comments about NFL and NBA players

Trump administration officials play defense over backlash to his comments about NFL and NBA players

On Friday, President Donald Trump called on NFL owners to fire players who kneel during the national anthem. Players, owners, and star athletes from other sports defended their First Amendment rights on Saturday. Trump continued his attacks through Sunday, and administration officials defended them. Several members of President Donald Trump's team were booked earlier this week for interviews during the Sunday political talk shows to discuss the president's legislative agenda. But after the president spent the weekend criticizing National Football League players who kneel or sit for the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality, administration officials were instead forced to defend the president's inflammatory statements. In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin argued that the NFL "has all types of rules," and that Trump was saying owners should "have a rule that players should have to stand in respect for the national anthem." "They can do free speech on their own time, but this is about respect for the military and the first responders and the country," Mnuchin said. Host Martha Raddatz pressed the treasury secretary, asking if it was appropriate or helpful when Trump called former San Francisco 49's quarterback Colin Kaepernick a "son of a b----," at a rally on Friday for kneeling during the national anthem. "The president can use whatever language he wants to use," Mnuchin said.

 

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