Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump finished his campaign with a rally in New Hampshire where he broke the news that New England Patriots QB Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick are both supporting his endeavors.
.@realDonaldTrump telling a crowd in NH tonight that Tom Brady voted for him #Patriots #WBZ #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/vRy79D8YnO
— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) November 8, 2016
Trump claims that Brady called him on Tuesday to say, “Donald, I support you, you’re my friend, and I voted for you.”
“So Tom, you voted for me, you support me, am I allowed to say it tonight to this massive crowd in New Hampshire?,” Trump says he responded.
“If you want to say it, you can say it,” Brady apparently responded.
This story runs differently to how Brady, himself, presented the election on Tuesday morning, where the quarterback joined WEEI and said that he had not yet voted.
Early voting in Massachusetts ended on Friday, November 4th, so he could not have voted in between the morning radio interview and when he theoretically spoke with Trump. Brady’s voter registration is also currently inactive, which means he has not yet voted.
Gisele Bundchen, Brady’s wife, also took to Instagram to express that she and her husband are not “backing Trump.”
Trump also claims that head coach Bill Belichick sent a letter in support of his campaign, which reads (per Trump):
“Congratulations on a tremendous campaign. You have dealt with an unbelievable slanted and negative media, and have come out beautifully. You’ve proved to be the ultimate competitor and fighter. Your leadership is amazing. I have always had tremendous respect for you, but the toughness and perseverance you have displayed over the past year is remarkable. Hopefully tomorrow’s election results will give the opportunity to make America great again. Best wishes for great results tomorrow.
Bill Belichick”
Belichick met up with Donald Trump over the summer so there is a relationship that exists, just like one exists between Brady and Trump.
Trump claims that Belichick sent a letter at 7:00 PM EST, and then the head coach rewrote it to the above form after the Trump camp asked if they could use the letter at the New Hampshire rally.
But after seeing how Bills players reacted to head coach Rex Ryan expressing his support for Trump, it’s fair to wonder if offering a letter of support to a presidential candidate would be an incredibly un-Belichick-like move in the middle of the season.
Trump has previously made claims about receiving letters from the NFL (which the NFL refuted, leading Trump to back away from his claims) and receiving support from players to appear at the RNC convention (majority of whom declined to attend). And does anyone else have a hard time believing Belichick used the word “beautifully”? Trump appeared to be reading directly from a piece of paper, so he wasn’t paraphrasing.
But it’s undeniable that those at the top of the Patriots organization, including Brady, Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft all have varying degrees of relationships with Trump.
Brady said that he would reveal his vote next week, but there’s not a chance we’ll ever find out if Belichick actually sent a letter (see below). The Patriots have declined to comment on this story.
Edit: Brady apparently voted at 10:00 AM on Monday via absentee ballot, making his conversation with Trump plausible.
Brookline town officials just shared this pic with #FOX25 showing Tom Brady yesterday as he voted via absentee ballot at 10 a.m. pic.twitter.com/8W2zEpj8oE
— Michael Henrich (@MichaelHenrich) November 8, 2016
Edit 2: And CSNNE’s Tom Curran has confirmed that Belichick did send a letter to Trump, but another report says that Belichick did not know that it would be read out loud.
Very good source: yes Belichick sent the letter. No, he had no idea it would be read out loud. Play with snakes, get bitten.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) November 8, 2016