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President Trump furious Tom Brady declined Patriots' 2017 White House invite

In case you’ve missed the news that’s dominated NFL headlines since Monday night (lucky you), President Donald Trump canceled the Philadelphia Eagles’ scheduled visit to the White House to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl LII win just hours before the team was to head to Washington, D.C.

He seemingly came close to canceling last year’s event to celebrate the Super Bowl LI champs, the Patriots, as well.

‘A chaotic scene’

According to a story by Washington Post reporters Josh Dawsey and Wesley Lowery and posted late Monday night, Trump was furious in April 2017 when he learned that New England quarterback Tom Brady would not be going to the White House for the then-traditional post-Super Bowl visit.

President Donald Trump reportedly was angry after discovering Tom Brady wouldn’t attend a White House celebration in 2017 after the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl LI win. (AP)
President Donald Trump reportedly was angry after discovering Tom Brady wouldn’t attend a White House celebration in 2017 after the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl LI win. (AP)

Dawsey and Lowery wrote:

“Trump grew angry in April 2017 when Tom Brady said he planned to skip the White House visit with the Patriots, huddling angrily with aides and even calling Patriots owner Robert Kraft. One former senior administration official described a chaotic scene unfolding over the heartlands of America, as Trump flew back from an event in Wisconsin. Trump made a number of calls and asked aides to help fix the situation, worried that Brady’s absence would reflect poorly on him. …

“Eventually, Trump was calmed down, and the Patriots came to the White House.”

Brady was with ailing mother

Brady, however, said he didn’t attend because he was with his ailing mother; Galynn Brady battled cancer throughout the 2016 NFL season and into 2017. A couple of days before that White House visit, Brady posted a photo on Instagram of his mother holding his daughter, Vivian, and kissing the little girl on the head.

Brady had also skipped the Patriots’ visit to the White House after the team’s win in Super Bowl XLIX two years earlier, when President Barack Obama was in office.

Trump has long boasted of his friendship with Brady, though Brady faced repeated questions about his relationship with Trump during the run-up to the 2016 election, after a red “Make America Great Again” hat was spotted in his locker stall in 2015.

Brady was not the only player who skipped the White House celebration in 2017, however; numerous Patriots did not attend, some explicitly stating it was because of things Trump had said.

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