President Trump, who called out NFL players who took a knee during the National Anthem, said “a lot of people” in the pro-football organization have been thanking him for passing criminal justice reform.
“I’m the one that had passed judicial reform,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. “And if you look at what I did, criminal judicial reform, and what I’ve done – President Obama tried. They all tried. Everybody wanted to do it. And I got it done and I’ve been, you know, really – a lot of people in the NFL have been calling and thanking me for it.”
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick did not stand during the National Anthem before a pre-season game in August 2016 to bring attention to the treatment of black people and other minorities.
But Trump said he has taken care of the issue now.
“A lot of it is having to do with reform from what I understand. Whether it’s criminal justice or whatever it may be and they have different versions and everybody seemed to have a different version of it. But a lot of it had to do with that, and I took care of that,” he said in the interview.
The president said the flag shouldn’t be used in protest.
“I think that people have to, at all times, respect our flag and at all times respect our National Anthem and our country. And I think there are plenty of places and times you can protest and you can do a lot. But you can’t do that. That’s my opinion,” he said.
As the protest begun by Kaepernick spread around the league, Trump seized on the issue and railed against the players, including urging team owners to fire the “son of a b—h” who refused to stand during “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ’Get that son of a b—h off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,” Trump told a rally in Alabama in September 2017.
The president signed a criminal justice reform bill passed with strong bipartisan support in December.
The House passed the bill on a 358-36 vote and the Senate approved it by a 87-12 margin.
The legislation, known as the First Step Act, gives judges more leeway in sentencing drug offenders, increases inmate rehabilitation efforts, and changes the “three strikes rule” so that people with three convictions get 25 years in prison instead of life.
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