NFL Players Kneel During National Anthem In Defiance Of Trump
WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. The other big story we're following, the NFL hits back at President Donald Trump. Nine NFL games kicking off this afternoon, 1:00 Eastern hour, with a powerful show of solidarity and defiance across the league during the American national anthem. Players, coaches, staff, kneeling, hands on shoulder, locked arms, all of that, a seemingly direct response to President Trump's blistering condemnation of players who refused to stand during the anthem. In Chicago, all but one of the Pittsburgh Steelers during its game against the bears during the national anthem chose to remain in the locker room at that moment. Several more games will be kicking off in the next hour. And we'll continue to monitor the players and the teams' responses. And in just last hour, the president responded via tweet to the show of solidarity and unity saying, "Great solidarity for our national anthem and for our country. Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable, bad ratings." Remember, this really got stirred up quite a bit after what the president said, Friday night in Alabama. And you might find the words that you're about to hear from the president offensive.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired. He's fired.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, so let's start with CNN White House Correspondent Boris Sanchez. So Boris, these new tweets from the president, he's saying this is a solid -- show of solidarity for the anthem. But -- that's his interpretation, as opposed to a show of solidarity among the NFL or the players in response to the president's message and it's still uncertain which it is. But, what more from the White House in terms of the interpretation of what was seen today at the NFL games?</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We've yet to get more clarity on that tweet, Fred. Certainly another nebulous tweet, right, from the president that makes it unclear whether or not he believes that those players that were locked in arms were perhaps protesting in a more acceptable way or if he realizes that they were doing so in solidarity with those that were kneeling down. As we've heard an overwhelming show of support from players, owners, and coaches, saying that the president's remarks on Friday night in Alabama were at the very least disappointing, some going as far as to call them totally inappropriate. The president went further in a separate tweet about the Pittsburgh Penguins, he writes, quote, pleased to inform that the champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for a ceremony, great team. The president obviously differentiating between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Golden Warriors which he disinvited from coming to the White House for their championship ceremony after Steph Curry, their star player said that he would not be interested in coming here in light of some of the president's remarks regarding Charlottesville and other controversial instances in which the president has really dug into some divisive issues in this country. The timing of all of this, Fred, is fascinating when you consider that this was a controversy that was re-ignited by the president. Colin Kaepernick first started kneeling for the anthem back in August of last year. And there's so much for the White House to deal with right now, not only that tax reform rollout that's expected toward the end of this week, but also this ObamaCare repeal and replacement bill that is on the verge of collapse. And tensions at an all-time high with North Korea, Fred. Still a lot of questions to be answered.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Boris Sanchez at the White House, thanks so much. Let's talk about this now with a former NFL player, Eric Matthews, former wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers. Good to see you.</s>ERIC MATTHEWS, FORMER NFL PLAYER, GREEN BAY PACKERS: Likewise.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, so what's your interpretation of the show of unity or solidarity at the NFL games and the president's interpretation of what he saw, and his viewpoint?</s>MATTHEWS: I look at it as a hit to the NFL players. You have a president who directly calls you out, bad names and things --</s>WHITFIELD: You're talking about his Friday night message in Alabama.</s>MATTHEWS: -- and the brotherhood, when we do come together, we come together. And that's what you're seeing today. The players are coming together, showing what you're talking about doesn't matter, you know. And what Trump was talking about too, it doesn't have anything to do with that. These are football players but at the end of the day they're American citizens first.</s>WHITFIELD: Is this show of unity and solidarity in your view a statement toward the president and his messaging, or is it a statement that is in step with the motivation behind Colin Kaepernick kneeling for social injustices. He was speaking out on -- and he said because of social injustices that he wanted the nation to be paying attention to. So what was that show today? Is it a response to one or the other or both?</s>MATTHEWS: Both. I think it was a response to what Trump said to the players, and now the players have been wanting to do something. Now, he actually just ignited something that's going to probably take on. Once you target the NFL, these players, they have a large audience that can put words out about what's going on. And a lot of people keep misperceiving what happened. Kaepernick was taking a knee not against the NFL but because of what's going on in our neighborhoods with the injustices in black communities. And that I think kind of get missed, the whole reason. They're not taking knees</s>WHIFIELD: Do you think that all the players today, the majority of players today, whether it be, you know, Tom Brady who was standing arms locked, you know, with his fellow pats, or whether you see Dolphins players, some who are kneeling, some who had hands on each other. I mean, are they making a statement to say, you know, we understand what Colin Kaepernick was all about and what he was saying. Or are they making a statement saying, any athlete, you know, any NFL player should be able to protest peacefully and not at the jeopardy of losing a job?</s>MATTHEWS: I think they're standing up for that. We can stand up for justice, but like I said, again, at the end of the day we're a citizen, we have the right, freedom of speech, to do what we please</s>WHITFIELD: And it's not just about the NFL because the president tweeted about NHL. You know, he talked about NHL players who are coming, the Penguins coming to the White House, good tea team. He got into a war of words with Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors, you know, and Curry said, he was thinking out loud, saying I'm not sure if I really want to go to the White House, and then the president tweets, OK, uninvited. Golden State Warriors then comes out -- and I believe we have a statement, Golden State Warriors say, you know, our interpretation has been none of us are going to go. And we're still going to go to Washington in that statement, but instead they're going to do something else in their view that is much more socially aware. What is going on here as it pertains to the president, these high profile athletes? I mean, is this an issue of the president versus sports? Is it the president versus, you know, a culture, you know, of America? Is this highlighting a cultural and a racial divide involving the president? What do you see?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. In your view, what has the president started though? And what does he stepped into, what has he stirred up by getting into this with these high profile athletes, and this on the heels of getting into it with, you know, Jemele Hill with ESPN after her tweets about her sentiments about the president.</s>MATTHEWS: Why is he tweeting? At the end of the day, why is our president still tweeting, going back and forth with people, athletes, you know. And like I said, at the end of the day, these athletes have the right. And he really stepped into an arena where it's going to be a huge arena where a lot of athletes on a high level can really speak their mind. So that's going to be my opinion. I hope to see a lot of these guys starts stepping up and taking that charge and supporting what Kaepernick is really talking about, our community, the injustice in our community. Nothing with the NFL. It's just an NFL player who took a knee to support that.</s>WHITFIELD: And then the question is, what's next? What's after this moment of solidarity? Then what?</s>MATTHEWS: Yes, what's next? I mean, that's of the thing we find, we don't follow through, we have this big pedestal that we can make contact and draw attention but what's next. And I hope to see that NFL players and owners take that next step. And I see that the Warriors, that they're taking the next step by not going, but going still to D.C. to do something in the community. And that's where it starts.</s>WHITFIELD: Eric Matthews, thanks so much, appreciate it.</s>MATTHEWS: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, coming up next, as President Trump goes on the offense against players, what are the political risks for him? We'll discuss that.