PARDONS/SPORTS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said he wants to meet with NFL players and other athletes who kneel during the National Anthem so they can recommend people they think should be pardoned due to unfair treatment by the justice system. In what he seemingly sees a solution, President Donald Trump said he wants NFL players and other athletes who kneeled during the National Anthem. ‘I’m going to ask them to recommend to me people who were unfairly treated,’ Trump said at White House Friday [6-8-18]. Trump’s contentious relationship with the NFL reached a peak last year when he lambasted players who took a knee during the National Anthem to protest institutionalized racism and police brutality. Last year, Trump suggested to NFL owners that they ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now’ and fire players who don’t stand for the playing of the National Anthem, saying the act is unpatriotic and disrespectful to the US military. Recently, the NFL implemented a new policy that teams could choose to require athletes in their arenas to stand during the playing of the anthem. It also gave players the option of remaining off the field, in the locker rooms, during the playing of the anthem if they choose not to stand for it.”
-Veronica Stracqualursi and Kaitlan Collins, “Trump will ask athletes who kneel during anthem to recommend people for pardoning,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 8, 2018 1:50 pm