New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed personal details about his relationship with former President Trump during an interview on “The Breakfast Club” on Friday.
The NFL owner, who has an estimated net worth of $11.8 billion, has admitted to donating to President Trump's campaign in the past. The couple first dated in the 1990s, after Mr. Kraft's first wife died in 2011 at age 68 after a battle with cancer.
“Donald Trump became a social friend in the early '90s when I was going to Florida. And when my wife… passed away 13 years ago, he contacted me 4 , I was one of five people. And I was really, really happy,” Craft said.
“The only donation I made to him was when he got elected, he called me and made a big donation to his inauguration. I couldn't believe it. It was like a drunk fraternity brother. It was like becoming president of the United States. ”
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The January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
However, the owner said he distanced himself from the former president after the events of January 6, 2021.
“I say this,” Mr. Kraft said. “I was very angry about what happened on January 6th. And I still haven't talked about it.” [Trump] since then. “
Since then, the Patriots have taken other steps as a franchise to distance themselves from their former president.
In May 2021, the team and Mr. Kraft denied allegations that Mr. Kraft and Mr. Trump tried to pay a U.S. senator to halt an investigation into a cheating scandal involving the team. Published report According to ESPN.
According to reports, President Trump met with the late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in 2008 and said that if the Patriots would end the investigation into the Spygate scandal, in which they were disciplined by the NFL for filming a rival team's coaching signals, he would “palm him.” He allegedly offered her money on the beach. Trump had not yet begun his political career at the time and was best known as the star of the reality show “The Apprentice.” ESPN claims Trump represented Kraft, but sources close to the former president and his team deny this claim.
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Robert Kraft and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game on January 22, 2017 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
“Mr. Kraft was not aware of Mr. Trump's involvement in this matter and had no other involvement with Mr. Specter or his staff,” a team spokesperson told ESPN.
President Trump also reportedly saw his friendship with former Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady deteriorate over time, but for entirely different reasons.
In his book This Won't Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Fight for America's Future, author Jonathan Martin writes that since Brady married his wife Gisele Bündchen and began his notoriously strict diet, He wrote that Brady and Trump's friendship began to deteriorate. Lifestyle in 2005.
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Former President Trump holds a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania on October 14, 2024. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
“President Trump said the soccer star was the same after marrying Bundchen, who challenged him to diligently cook health-conscious meals,” Martin wrote. .
Brady and Trump reportedly became friends in 2001 after Trump asked Brady to judge the Miss USA pageant. Throughout the early 2000s, they regularly complimented each other in public statements.
Brady told Howard Stern on SiriusXM in April 2020 that former President Trump began his presidential campaign in 2015 and asked him to speak on behalf of the former NFL star at the 2016 Republican National Convention. He said he chose to distance himself from Trump at the time.
“What was uncomfortable for me was because you can't undo things, and it's not about undoing friendships, but political support is very different than friend support,” Brady told Stern. spoke.
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