Robert Kraft doesn’t think it’s a big deal Patriots players are skipping White House visit

Patriots owner Robert Kraft is friends with President Donald Trump. This is nothing new. In the last few days they were seen together at Mar-a-Lago dining with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while Trump himself often comments on their relationship.

So naturally, the topic of New England players opting to skip the team’s pending trip to the White House is a rather awkward one for Kraft to approach.

On the TODAY show, he was forced to do just that — asked by Matt Lauer about his friendship with the president and his employees’ decision to pass on meeting him.

Here’s how Kraft responded:

“Well, you know what’s interesting, this is our, I’m happy to say, fifth Super Bowl in the last 16 years, and every time we’ve had the privilege of going to the White House, a dozen of our players don’t go. This is the first time it’s gotten any media attention. You know, some of the players have the privilege of going in college because they’re on national championship teams, others have family commitments. But this is America. We’re all free to do whatever’s best for us. We’re just privileged to be in a position to be going.”

So far six players — Martellus Bennett, Alan Branch, Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower, LeGarrette Blount, and Chris Long — have decided not to attend the White House celebration. Hightower did say he’s “been there, done that,” referring to his visit during President Obama’s term after winning a college title with Alabama, however this is not the first time a player declining to visit the White house has received media attention.

With no date set for the visit, and outside pressure mounting on other players, this has certainly become one of the more interesting storylines to follow this offseason. And, of course, the larger question becomes if other teams will start to boycott the White House under Trump as well.