Both Trump and Kraft deny ever trying to interfere in Sen. Arlen Specter’s investigation into the scandal over a decade past
Former President Donald Trump and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft were detained in a brand new report Wednesday of trying to change the investigation into the team’s 2007 Spygate scandal.
Then-Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who died in 2012, sought to launch another investigation to the Spygate scandal. Specter said at the time that he thought the NFL had a conflict of interest in its investigation to the Patriots and that the public deserved to know more about the group’s practices.
Specter raised a problem with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the time on the tapes being ruined and wondered whether there was a connection between the tapes and the Super Bowl win over the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005.
Specter did not go as far as to ask a hearing in the U.S. Senate however desired a”Mitchell Report”-fashion outside evaluation. The Mitchell Report researched steroid use among players in MLB, according to The Washington Post. Goodell said in the time he had no plans to hire an outside investigator.
The Spygate instance would finally fizzle out. The Patriots would win three more Super Bowls and help prop up Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback in NFL history and the Patriots as the most dominant sports company at the start of the 21st century.
An ESPN report on Wednesday alleged that Trump”suspended campaign cash” for Specter in exchange for its investigation to go away. Trump reportedly told Specter he was acting on Kraft’s behalf.
Fox News did not instantly hear back in the Patriots, Trump or Shanin Specter on a request for comment.
Specter’s son Shanin and Charles Robbins — a former communications aide for Specter who also co-authored their novels — talked to ESPN about the late senator’s involvement with the scandal and the alleged participation of Trump.
According to ESPN, Robbins and Specter spoke about a then-upcoming publication”Life Among the Cannibals,” which published in 2012, also tape-recorded their own conversation. Specter allegedly told Robbins that a”mutual friend” told him if he set off the Patriots his pocket could be lined and the”friend” acted on behalf of Kraft. The buddy wasn’t revealed in the conversation or published in the publication.
Robbins told ESPN at 2017″the friend” might happen to be Trump, who in the time had just stepped into the Oval Office as presidentand that he never pressed Specter onto it. Trump had also publicly called him a friend. Shanin Specter had spoken ESPN before regarding the”mutual friend” but was not sure about the title until today.
“My father said that Trump was acting as a messenger for Kraft,” Shanin Specter informed the outlet. “But I am equally sure the reference to money in Palm Beach was campaign contributions, not cash. The offer has been Kraft assistance with campaign donations. … My dad said it was Kraft’s deal, but not somebody else’s.”
Shanin Specter said his father was angry over it. He said his re-telling of this ordeal currently is not politically motivated despite his support for President Joe Biden and he did not report the allegations because he did not think, citing case law, it could be regarded as a bribe.
Records revealed that neither Kraft nor his company Kraft Group donated to Specter.
Jason Miller, a senior advisor to Trump, denied the allegations in the ESPN report.
“This is totally untrue. We have no idea what you’re talking about,” he advised the socket.
Kraft also denied allegations to ESPN via a spokesman:”Mr. Kraft is not aware of any participation of Trump about this topic and he didn’t have any other involvement with Specter or his staff.”
