Senator’s son says Trump sought to intervene in Patriots ‘Spygate’ probe

The late Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R-Pa.) son said former President Trump tried to intervene in the New England Patriots’ “Spygate” probe.

Shanin Specter, Arlen Specter’s oldest son, and Charles Robbins, ghostwriter for two of Arlen Specter’s memoirs and his communications aide, said Trump offered money for the elder Specter’s campaign in exchange for him dropping the investigation into the Patriots, ESPN reported.

In 2008, Specter had an investigation started into the Spygate scandal, in which the Patriots were accused of illegally videotaping other teams during the season.

The former senator also wanted to discover why NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had all the evidence of cheating destroyed.

Specter’s calls for an independent investigator were met with panic by the league and allegedly sparked the interest of Trump, who was friends with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Specter, according to ESPN.

Specter reportedly visited Trump in Palm Beach in 2008 and had a phone conversation with him afterward.

“If you laid off the Patriots, there’d be a lot of money in Palm Beach,” the former president allegedly said. 

“This is completely false,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, told The Hill. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Arlen Specter was reportedly angered by Trump’s offer, though he didn’t name the former president in his memoir in which he touched on his investigation of the scandal.

“I’m not sure why he didn’t disclose it was Trump in the book,” Shanin Specter told ESPN. “But he liked Trump. They had a warm relationship. So that may explain it. But that, of course, was a different Trump. If my father were in the Senate today, a lot of things would be different.”

A Patriots spokesperson told ESPN that Kraft never asked Trump to talk to Arlen Specter and is not aware of Trump having any involvement in the matter.

Trump donated $11,300 to Specter’s campaign committees over 30 years.

The Hill has reached out to the Patriots for comment.