The New York Giants on Monday took down President Donald Trump’s claim that he advised the team to keep running back Saquon Barkley before the NFL star signed with the rival Philadelphia Eagles last spring.
Trump, during the Super Bowl champion Eagles’ White House visit, claimed he was with New York head coach Brian Daboll and other Giants members when he told them not to let Barkley walk away.
“I said, ‘Do anything you have to, but don’t lose Saquon.’ They lost Saquon,” claimed Trump while flanked by members of the Eagles at the event.
“That was not good, I called that one,” Trump added. “That was an easy one to call because he played damn well for the Giants, I can tell you that.”
Barkley left the Giants and signed a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the Eagles, whom he helped lead to their second Super Bowl win in February.
Giants spokesperson Pat Hanlon told Front Office Sports that “there were no conversations” between Trump and the Giants about Barkley.
Hanlon, when asked to confirm any talk between the parties and if the Giants had a comment, replied “no” before pointing to a post from his personal account on X, formerly Twitter.
“With all due respect, stop yapping. Be the leader we all want you to be. And my 401K wants you to be. I’m trying to retire!!” wrote Hanlon, who mentioned Trump’s account in the post.
Barkley, who Trump referred to as a “handsome guy” at the event, joined the president on Marine One and met with him at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Sunday.
Barkley’s hangout with Trump sparked backlash on social media, leading the running back to brush off those who were “really upset” with him over his golf outing and flight to the White House with the president.
“Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand,” he wrote, noting that he golfed with former President Barack Obama “not too long ago.”
The Eagles visited the White House on Monday despite several players and others declining to attend the ceremony, including Super Bowl MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts, who replied with an “ummm” when asked if he’d attend the event.
Back in 2018, the president disinvited the Eagles from visiting the White House, citing athletes’ protesting the national anthem. Former Eagles player Torrey Smith knocked Trump over his “lies” at the time and declared that he was spreading the “false narrative that players are anti military.”
