REPORT: Donald Trump Offered Bribe To Senator In Attempt To End ‘Spygate’ Investigation, Trump Fires Back

The “Spygate Scandal” in 2007 rocked the NFL to its core, garnering endless media coverage, numerous investigations, and according to a new report from ESPN, an attempted bribe from former President Donald Trump.

For those unfamiliar with the scandal, the New England Patriots division rival — the New York Jets — accused the Pats of illegally filming their defensive coordinators’ signals during a regular season game in 2007. The Patriots later admitted that they had in fact filmed the signals, but claimed it was because of a “misinterpretation of the rules.” As a result, the NFL handed down the largest fine in league history to Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick and docked the team of their first round draft pick the following season. 

At the time, Spygate was so scandalous that it went beyond sports and into the world of politics. In 2008, a then-Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) launched an investigation into Spygate. Specter — a Philadelphia Eagles fan and loud critic of the NFL — was ferociously investigating just how many times the Patriots had illegally taped opposing coaches’ signals, and why the NFL had destroyed physical evidence. 

“The NFL has a very preferred status in our country with their antitrust exemption,” he told The New York Times in early February 2008. “The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game.”

According to an investigative piece published by ESPN, after his investigation had been “stonewalled,” Specter called for an independent investigator to look into the scandal which could lead to league officials and coaches having to testify under oath. The potential of having to testify terrified the league, and the NFL put out public statements saying that the league had performed its due diligence. Still, Specter wouldn’t back off. 

In early 2008, he had dinner with a Palm Beach, Florida, businessman who had many ties to high level football executives and politicians. In a phone call following the dinner, the businessman reportedly told Specter “If you lay off the Patriots, there’d be a lot of money in Palm Beach.” 

According to ESPN, that man was none other than Donald J. Trump. 

Trump and Specter had an ongoing friendship at the time, with Trump inviting Specter and his wife to a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago on January 20, 2008. Specter had even sent a handwritten thank you card to Trump and his family following the dinner. 

“Dear Donald & Melania, Joan and I very much enjoyed our dinner with you. The food was excellent and the company was better. Donald, you ought to give some serious thought to becoming a Cabinet secretary. Meanwhile, we look forward to March 18th. My Best, Arlen.”

According to the Federal Election Commission records, Trump wrote his first check to Specter’s campaign on August 19, 1983 and contributed a total of $11,300 to Specter’s campaigns over the following three decades. Specter and Trump were also connected through a mutual friend — Roger Stone — who served on Specter’s 1996 presidential campaign, and was later hired by Trump to help with his own political endeavors. 

Specter passed away of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2012, but his son — Shanin — spoke with ESPN and gave additional insight into his father’s search for answers. 

Shanin told ESPN that it was indeed Trump who made the statement regarding “money in Palm Beach,” and that Trump was acting on behalf of Patriots owner Robert Kraft. 

“My father told me that Trump was acting as a messenger for Kraft,” Shanin Specter told ESPN. “But I’m equally sure the reference to money in Palm Beach was campaign contributions, not cash. The offer was Kraft assistance with campaign contributions. … My father said it was Kraft’s offer, not someone else’s.”

“He was pissed,” Shanin told ESPN. “He told me about the call in the wake of the conversation and his anger about it… My father was upset when [such overtures] would happen because he felt as if it were tantamount to a bribe solicitation, though the case law on this subject says it isn’t… He would tell me these things when they occurred. We were very close.”

Both Kraft and Trump denied their involvement in responses to ESPN’s inquiry. 

“This is completely false,” said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.” A Patriots spokesman said Kraft “never asked Donald Trump to talk to Arlen Specter on his behalf.”

“Mr. Kraft is not aware of any involvement of Trump on this topic and he did not have any other engagement with Specter or his staff,” the spokesman said via email.

Trump and Kraft have a relationship dating back nearly 30 years, with Kraft attending Trump’s marriage to Melania in 2005, and Trump attending the funeral of Kraft’s wife, Myra, in 2011. Kraft has not been shy about his relationship with Trump. “Loyalty and friendship trumps politics for me,” Kraft said. “I always remember the people who were good to me in that vulnerable time, and he’s in that category.”

Even with new information regarding Spygate, Trump’s involvement will never be fully known, as Specter told confidants that the mysteries of Spygate would “remain stubborn secrets.” 

Regardless, Shanin Specter told ESPN that he’s proud of his late father for pursuing the truth behind Spygate. 

“He was alone, but so what? He was used to that,” he said. “He was a football fan who felt he’d been cheated and a senator who felt the NFL needed to police themselves in order to maintain their congressional-awarded antitrust exemption. He was right on both counts. Now we know Belichick was, and is, a serial cheater and, in this instance, his boss closed ranks behind him.”

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

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