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| Donald Trump says NFL team owners are 'afraid of their players' amid Take A Knee protests | Donald Trump says NFL team owners are 'afraid of their players' amid Take A Knee protests |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| NFL teams are "afraid of their players" and so can't respond to the recent protests by American football players, Donald Trump has said. | NFL teams are "afraid of their players" and so can't respond to the recent protests by American football players, Donald Trump has said. |
| Owners are "in a situation where [they] want to do something," Mr Trump told Fox News. But they are "afraid of their players, if you want to know the truth", he said. | Owners are "in a situation where [they] want to do something," Mr Trump told Fox News. But they are "afraid of their players, if you want to know the truth", he said. |
| Many of the players who have taken part in the protest are black. | |
| The latest provocative comments come amid the president's increasing anger towards NFL players who take part in the "Take A Knee" protest and refuse to stand for the US national anthem. He suggested that his repeated statements about those protests were not a distraction but were about a real issue facing the country. | The latest provocative comments come amid the president's increasing anger towards NFL players who take part in the "Take A Knee" protest and refuse to stand for the US national anthem. He suggested that his repeated statements about those protests were not a distraction but were about a real issue facing the country. |
| He claimed that he is friends with team owners and has spoken to a number of them in recent days, and that they had described themselves as being "in a box". "“They’ve got to be tough, and they’ve got to be smart," he said. | |
| He also repeated his previous comments about the falling ratings in the NFL. He claimed that attendance is falling at games and that many seats are being left empty – which Fox hosts agreed with, and said was being intentionally hidden from the cameras at games. | |
| The interview was recorded just before Mr Trump took to the stage in Indianapolis to launch his new tax plan. It was broadcast on Fox & Friends early on Thursday morning. | |
| More follows… | More follows… |