Stephen A. Smith claims Donald Trump ran for president to get back at NFL owners

The lone crushed Donald Trump ran for president successful 2016 was arsenic an enactment of revenge against the NFL squad owners, Stephen A. Smith claims.

The twelvemonth was 2014 and NBC's biggest world tv prima was among 3 qualifying bidders successful the contention for outgoing proprietor Ralph Wilson's Buffalo Bills.

Smith, who was already known to Trump astatine this time, phoned up the ESPN property to sermon helium hopes of yet becoming a squad owner.

'He called maine successful 2014,' Smith told comedian Bill Maher connected Club Random. 'This is simply a existent story.

'He says, ''Stephen A.'' — [he] had a caput — ''Mr. Trump is connected the line,'' etcetera,' Smith continued. '[Trump] gets connected the line. He says, ''Stephen A., I'm trying to bargain the Buffalo Bills.'' Price tag was $1.4 billion.

'He had astir $1.1 billion. I was being told helium wasn't gonna get the team. He said, ''Stephen A., if these mother***ers get successful my way'' — talking astir the NFL owners — ''these mother***ers get successful my way, I'm gonna get them each back. I'm gonna tally for president.'' That's what helium said.'

Smith went connected to impeach Trump of targeting Colin Kaepernick and different players who kneeled successful protestation during the nationalist anthem 'just to get the owners back.' Trump's absorption connected protesting players led to wide disapproval of the league, which inactive maintained its dominance successful the ratings nonetheless. 

The Bills were yet sold to Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula – the parents of tennis prima Jessica Pegula – for $1.4 billion.

Trump's erstwhile person and media state Howard Stern offered a antithetic mentation successful 2019, saying Trump ran for president arsenic a 'gimmick' to summation leverage successful declaration negotiations for 'The Apprentice'

'I firmly believed that Donald did not privation to tally for president,' Stern told Stephen Colbert. 'I don't deliberation helium was serious. I don't deliberation helium wanted to beryllium the president. I knew him. He had a large beingness astatine Mar-A-Lago, helium was moving astir town, helium played golf, helium had a large time.'

Trump's fascination with nonrecreational shot resulted successful respective attempts astatine NFL ownership.

In 1983, Trump expressed an involvement successful buying the Baltimore Colts, who weren't yet sold but were relocated to Indianapolis.

A twelvemonth later, Trump had a reported accidental to bargain the Dallas Cowboys for conscionable $50 cardinal but declined, allowing Jerry Jones to get the franchise for $140 million. Now the Cowboys fertile arsenic the astir invaluable squad successful sports with a $9 cardinal valuation from Forbes.

And Trump wasn't lone utilizing wealth to get an NFL team. He besides tried utilizing leverage, according to Jeff Pearlman's 2018 book, 'Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL.

Launched successful 1983, the USFL was a outpouring shot league that boasted a astonishing array of talent, including aboriginal Trump governmental state Herschel Walker. One twelvemonth into the league, Trump would bargain Walker's team, the New Jersey Generals, which he'd ain until the league went bust successful 1986.

The USFL's abbreviated past is defined by respective wide mistakes, similar the determination to adhd six caller franchises aft a promising inaugural play successful 1983. But possibly the bigger misstep was choosing to determination its play to the autumn successful 1985 and situation the NFL straight – a determination that was influenced heavy by Trump.

'In the lead-up to buying the team, helium was each astir outpouring shot and however large the league was, and, 'I emotion what the USFL is doing and blah blah blah,' Pearlman told DailyMail.com successful 2018. 'He gets approved arsenic an owner, helium buys the team, and immediately: 'We request to determination to fall; we request to instrumentality connected the NFL.'

'His large enactment was: 'If God wanted shot successful the spring, helium wouldn't person invented baseball.''

According to interviews conducted by Pearlman, Trump's archetypal program was to person the USFL fold and the NFL sorb the Generals arsenic an enlargement franchise.

However, during a gathering with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle successful New York City's Pierre Hotel successful 1984, that program was foiled.

'He fundamentally said to Rozelle,' Pearlman explained, ''I don't truly springiness a s*** astir the USFL. I privation an NFL team. What bash I person to bash to get successful the NFL?''

'It was fundamentally an connection to propulsion the USFL nether the bus.'

Trump did not get the reply helium was looking for.

'Rozelle said to him, 'As agelong arsenic I'm the commissioner, you're ne'er going to person a team,'' Pearlman continued. 'He didn't spot him. He thought helium was a scumbag. He didn't say, 'I deliberation you're a scumbag,' but Rozelle made his feelings toward Trump precise good known. [Rozelle] besides made them good known during the proceedings erstwhile helium testified.'

That grounds came astir successful 1986 aft Trump had convinced his chap USFL owners to record an anti-monopoly suit against the NFL.

When called to the stand, Trump had claimed that Rozelle promised him an NFL franchise astatine that 1984 gathering if helium could transportation the USFL to instrumentality with a outpouring docket and refrain from filing the antitrust suit.

Rozelle testified that Trump's assertion was untrue, but 1 erstwhile USFL proprietor utilized a antithetic word to picture the existent property mogul's testimony.

'I got an email from different USFL owner,' said Pearlman. 'And this is simply a feline that really voted for Trump - and helium said to me: 'I work the book. I privation you would person talked much astir however Trump lied nether oath due to the fact that that ever pissed maine off.'

According to Pearlman, Trump had assured his chap owners that the USFL would triumph the suit, pointing to his prime of notorious erstwhile Senator Joseph McCarthy lawyer Roy Cohn. Technically Trump was right, the NFL lost, but the USFL's efforts were yet doomed by respective costly errors.

'One of the different owners, Jerry Argovitz of the Houston Gamblers, begged Trump not to record the suit successful New York,' Pearlman said. 'He said [the jury] wouldn't beryllium sympathetic to plaintiffs… Trump says: 'No, no, New York's my location town. I cognize it well.''

Trump was seemingly wrong.

Even earlier the assemblage decided to trim the colony to $1, Trump's grounds and adjacent his beingness successful the courtroom seemed to irk 1 juror.

'I interviewed 1 of the jurors,' Pearlman said. 'She was saying however Trump was conscionable the worst witnesser of each time.

'The full extremity of the USFL was to overgarment the NFL arsenic the bully,' Pearlman continued. 'Trump goes connected the basal and he's a bully, he's a thug. She told maine she vividly remembered Trump trying to intimidate the jurors from the basal by staring them down.

There's different peculiar allegation from Trump's clip successful the USFL: He was accused of sitting during the nationalist anthem.

'I'm definite sometimes Trump stood and sometimes helium didn't stand, but it's conscionable comic that he's calling retired each these guys for kneeling during the anthem erstwhile it was good known - and not adjacent a large woody - that Donald Trump would beryllium during the anthems,' Pearlman told the Daily Mail successful 2018.

'[He would] bash work, instrumentality calls, behaviour interviews,' Pearlman continued. 'Probably ne'er gave it a 2nd thought.' (This assertion echoes that of the Philadelphia Daily News's Paul Domowitch, who Tweeted successful May that helium erstwhile saw Trump walk 'the full anthem berating' the president of the USFL's Philadelphia Stars.)

Trump's White House did not respond to DailyMail.com's petition for remark connected the allegation astatine the clip of the book's publication.