During an interview with Patriots owner Robert Kraft about his NFL team’s Super Bowl win, on Monday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer turned the conversation to politics and demanded Kraft defend his friendship with President Trump: “Your relationship with Donald Trump, I should mention, goes back a while.... Has your relationship with Donald Trump in any way strained your relationship with some of your players? Who, by the way, some say they don't want to go to the White House to celebrate this win.”
In reply, Kraft called out the press for its sudden interest in athlete attendance at White House events: “Well, you know what's interesting, this is our – I'm happy to say – fifth Super Bowl in the last 15-16 years and every time we've had the privilege of going to the White House, a dozen of our players don't go. This is the first time it's gotten any media attention.”
On the day after the big game, the NBC morning show cheered several Super Bowls ads designed to push liberal agenda items.
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Here is a transcript of the February 13 exchange:
8:18 AM ET
(...)
MATT LAUER: You just mentioned you had dinner on Friday night with the President. Your relationship with Donald Trump, I should mention, goes back a while. You had dinner with the Japanese Prime Minister. Has your relationship with Donald Trump in any way strained your relationship with some of your players? Who, by the way, some say they don't want to go to the White House to celebrate this win.
ROBERT KRAFT [PATRIOTS OWNER]: Well, you know what's interesting, this is our – I'm happy to say – fifth Super Bowl in the last 15-16 years and every time we've had the privilege of going to the White House, a dozen of our players don't go. This is the first time it's gotten any media attention. You know, some of the players have the privilege of going in college because they're on national championship teams, others have family commitments. But this is America, we're all free to do whatever is best for us, and we're just privileged to be in a position to be going.
(...)
