Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended President Trump’s recent criticism of NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, calling the form of protest “a big mistake.”
“The president has free speech rights too,” Mr. Sessions said. “He sends soldiers out every day to defend this country under the flag of the United States … So I agree that it’s a big mistake to protest in that fashion because it weakens the commitment we have to this nation that has provided us this freedom.”
Mr. Sessions’ first comments on the NFL controversy came Tuesday when he was asked a question after he spoke about free speech on college campuses at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Trump has said that the NFL should fire anyone who kneels during the Star-Spangled Banner and on Tuesday said the league should adopt a new rule prohibiting the practice.
“The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations,” the president tweeted. “The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can’t kneel during our National Anthem!”
Former pro quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem last year as a form of protest against social and racial injustice. Other players across the league had also started to adopt the protest. But after Mr. Trump’s criticism last week, hundreds of NFL players sat, knelt or locked arms as the anthem was played before games this weekend in a show of unity.
Mr. Sessions said that when players act in a provocative manner, they can expect to be criticized.
“The president has a right to condemn them and I would condemn their actions, not them as human beings,” Mr. Sessions said following his address at Georgetown. “There are many ways these players with all the assets that they have can express they political views other than in effect denigrating the symbols of our nation.”
While Mr. Sessions was critical of the protest, he said NFL team owners could decide whether certain conduct is appropriate or not on the football field.
“It’s up to owners and people who create these games and pay for these ball fields to decide what you can do on a ball field,” he said. “But the freedom of every individual player is paramount under the Constitution, it’s protected and we have to protect it. It’s not a contradiction there.”
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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