Donald Trump says the NFL sent him a letter complaining about Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump at a primary debate — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Republican Donald Trump began accusing Democrat Hillary Clinton of tampering with the general election debate schedule Friday night, tweeting, "As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!"

He continued that line of attack Sunday morning with a new story: Trump said the NFL also objects to the debate schedule he claims Clinton designed.

Trump announced on ABC News he "got a letter from the NFL saying, 'This is ridiculous. Why are the debates against' — 'cause the NFL doesn't wanna go against the debates. 'Cause the debates are gonna be pretty massive, from what I understand, OK?" By contrast, Trump said, "Hillary Clinton wants to be against the NFL. She doesn't — maybe like she did with Bernie Sanders, where they were on Saturday nights when nobody's home."

Article continues below

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

A representative of the NFL promptly denied such a letter ever existed, while the Commission on Presidential Debates said the debates were scheduled in September of 2015 without consultation "with any political parties or campaigns."

Update 11:15 a.m.: Donald Trump has backed down from his claim to have received a letter from the NFL. A representative of his campaign told ABC's This Week, "Mr. Trump was made aware of the conflicting dates by a source close to the league."

Explore More

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.