Stephen A. Smith revisited a fateful phone call he had with Donald Trump in 2014.
With Colin Kaepernick trying out for the Raiders this week, Smith recollected how President Trump was a forceful critic of Kaepernick’s kneeling protests.
“The narrative was hijacked by the former president of the United States for his own benefit. We all know this,” Smith said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.”
Smith said that Trump called him in 2014 when he wanted to purchase the Buffalo Bills, and vowed revenge on the NFL if they froze him out of the ownership fraternity.
“I’ll never forget what he said to me — he said, ‘If those owners screw me over, I’m gonna show them. I’m gonna get them all back. I’m gonna run for president of the United States.’ That’s what he said to me back in 2014,” Smith said.
Smith has brought this call up on-air before — he spoke about it in 2018 on “First Take” — but it has renewed relevance with Kaepernick seeking to return to the league.
“I bring up the relevancy about that, because it wasn’t about Colin Kaepernick,” Smith said Thursday.
“It was about him politicizing the situation, for his own benefit, to cause havoc for NFL owners who had screwed him owner from becoming an owner and becoming part of their club. Whether he’ll ever admit it or not, who the hell knows, but I’m telling you that’s what happened with Colin Kaepernick.”
Kaepernick last played in the NFL in 2016.
