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Trump Praises Bosa, NFL Draftee Who Called Kaepernick a ‘Clown’

Trump Praises Bosa, NFL Draftee Who Called Kaepernick a `Clown'

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday sent a congratulatory tweet to Nick Bosa, chosen on Thursday as the NFL’s No. 2 draft pick for the year, urging the player, a Trump supporter who’s been accused of racist social media posts, to “stay true” to himself.

Trump told Bosa, a former defensive end from Ohio State University, that San Francisco -- one of the most liberal cities on the U.S. -- “will embrace you.”

Bosa in 2016 said on Twitter that former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the movement of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality, was a “clown.” Prior to this week’s draft, that tweet and others deriding singer Beyonce Knowles’ music and the movie “Black Panther,” as well as messages supporting Trump, were removed from Bosa’s Twitter account, according to Yahoo Sports.

Trump Praises Bosa, NFL Draftee Who Called Kaepernick a ‘Clown’

“I respect what he’s done,” Bosa said of Kaepernick at a press conference after his selection. “If it empowers anybody, then he’s doing a good thing. I apologize for that.”

Trump has repeatedly criticized NFL players and other professional athletes who joined the kneeling movement. In 2018 he told “Fox & Friends” that if players don’t stand for the anthem, “maybe they shouldn’t be in the country.” In 2017, he said the best response for an NFL owner who had a protester on his team was “to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!”’

Trump Praises Bosa, NFL Draftee Who Called Kaepernick a ‘Clown’

The No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL draft was Kyler Murray, quarterback from the University of Oklahoma who’s heading to the Arizona Cardinals. Although Trump said that Bosa “will be a great player for years to come,” he didn’t tweet similar sentiments to Murray.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Linus Chua

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.