Members of the NYPD’s semi-pro football team gifted Vice President Mike Pence a No. 20 jersey — a reference to the 2020 presidential campaign — when he stopped by One Police Plaza on Thursday, sources said.
Pence held up the navy blue football jersey and posed for a photograph inside police headquarters with Commissioner James O’Neill and other members of the department on Thursday afternoon, according to law enforcement sources.
The vice president made his appearance after members of the NYPD’s football team wrote to the White House to request a visit after they won the National Public Safety Football League championship on June 21.
The football team got a message back weeks later, informing them a White House visit wasn’t in the cards, but that Pence could come see the team during his trip to the Big Apple, sources said.
During his visit, Pence thanked the team for trying to visit President Trump in DC.
Pence said he “very much appreciated that we got a letter at the White House” requesting the visit.
“So we said, how about the vice president comes here and congratulates NYPD on a great effort?” he added.
A number of championship sports teams have refused to visit the White House in protest of the Trump administration in recent months.
Most recently, the USA women’s soccer team refused to go to the White House after winning the World Cup in July.
The team’s captain, Megan Rapinoe, touched off a heated debate about the tradition when she told a sports magazine, “I’m not going to the f—— White House,” before the team had won the championship.