Donald Trump bribed Sen. Arlen Specter to stop his Spygate probe on behalf of Robert Kraft, according to the late senator’s ghostwriter and son. The allegation serves as the centerpiece in a bombshell ESPN report detailing Trump’s apparent efforts to halt the franchise-defining inquiry.
In the article, investigative journalists Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. outline how their scoop came together. Back in 2010, Specter told his longtime communications aid and ghostwriter, Charles Robbins, about a mutual friend who told him there would be “a lot of money in Palm Beach” if he laid off the Patriots. At the time, Specter, a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan who represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate from 1983-2011, launched an investigation into the Spygate scandal. Then the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Specter wrote two letters to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell raising concerns about the accelerated pace of the league’s inquiry. The NFL wrapped up its investigation in just four days, taking away New England’s first round pick and fining the Patriots $250,000 and Bill Belichick $500,000.
Days later, Goodell ordered one of his most trusted aides, league counsel Jeff Pash, to stomp on the videotape evidence inside of a Gillette Stadium conference room — further raising Specter’s suspicion. The senator called for an independent inquiry, which frightened Goodell. “If it ever got to an investigation, it would be terrible for the league,” he said at the time.
Around that time, Specter had dinner with his friend in Palm Beach, who didn’t live far from Kraft’s palatial estate, Wickersham and Van Natta report. That’s when the apparent bribe was made. “If you laid off the Patriots, there'd be a lot of money in Palm Beach,” the friend supposedly said.
The anecdote made it into Specter’s third and final book, which was published in 2012. Specter died that year of complications from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Six years ago, back when Trump launched his then-quixotic presidential campaign, Wickersham and Van Natta received a tip identifying him as the source of the bribe. Robbins told them he was “pretty darn sure” Trump made the offer, but Shanin Specter, Arlen’s son, was more absolute. He told the journalists it was Trump, who was acting on behalf of Kraft.
“My father told me that Trump was acting as a messenger for Kraft," Shanin Specter said. "But I'm equally sure the reference to money in Palm Beach was campaign contributions, not cash. The offer was Kraft assistance with campaign contributions. ... My father said it was Kraft's offer, not someone else’s.”
Campaign finance records show neither Kraft nor any of his business entities ever donated to Arlen Specter’s campaign committees. Trump’s last campaign check to Specter was written on March 31, 2008 — roughly two months before Specter announced he was dropping the Spygate matter.
Trump and Kraft both denied the allegation through spokespeople. “This is completely false,” said Trump senior advisor Jason Miller.
Still, the report serves as another link between Trump and Kraft. Trump frequently boasted about his close ties to the Patriots throughout his campaign and early days in office, though the relationship has seemingly cooled in recent years. The Patriots didn’t attend the White House to celebrate their 2019 Super Bowl win, and earlier this year, Bill Belichick declined Trump’s offer to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Tom Brady, who Trump once wished would become his son-in-law, hasn’t spoken publicly about the ex-president in several years. Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen recently purchased a mansion on the same island as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
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