Trump claims Patriots coach Bill Belichick 'hugged and kissed' him on golf course after declining medal: new book
February 14, 2022
Donald Trump reportedly said that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made up with him after publicly snubbing Trump's White House following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In the forthcoming book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns of The New York Times, the authors write that, "Trump bragged that it was not only Republican politicians who had crawled back to his side after briefly rejecting him after January 6."
"One of the rejections that had bothered him the most had come from Bill Belichick, the legendary coach of the New England Patriots who had declined Trump’s attempt to grant him the Presidential Medal of Freedom," the two explained.
Trump sought to award the honor during his final month in office, but Belichick refrained.
"Recently, I was offered the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients," Belichick said in a Jan. 12, 2021 statement. "Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation's values, freedom and democracy."
Trump's view of Belichick has changed since the statement.
"Back then, Trump said, Belichick had 'chickened out.' But get this, Trump confided: The coach had just a week earlier been playing golf at Trump’s nearby course," the two reported. "Trump had run into him there on the second-to-last hole. 'He came up to me on the seventeenth,' the former commander-in-chief recounted with relish. Stretching credulity for anyone familiar with Belichick’s gruff persona, Trump claimed: 'He hugged me and kissed me.'"
Read the full report.
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