Colin Kaepernick’s Lawyers Are Going to Subpoena Trump in NFL Lawsuit
Photos courtesy of GettyAs our own Jake Weindling has thoroughly documented, the NFL had absolutely no good skill-based reason to keep Colin Kaepernick out of the league. It was all politics, and as such, there’s a collusion lawsuit in the works that Kaepernick stands a decent chance to win…mostly because the vast majority of these owners are brain dead simpletons who did an exceedingly poor job at hiding their collusion.
As part of that lawsuit, it came out today that Kaepernick’s legal team is likely on the verge of throwing a subpoena Trump’s way. Per Yahoo:
Kaepernick’s legal team is expected to seek federal subpoenas in the coming weeks to compel testimony from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other officials familiar with the president’s agenda on protesting NFL players, sources with knowledge of the quarterback’s collusion case against the NFL told Yahoo Sports.
The aim will be a dive into the administration’s political involvement with the NFL during Kaepernick’s free agency and the league’s handling of player protests, sources said. This after recent disclosures that multiple owners had direct talks with Trump about players kneeling during the national anthem. The content of those conversations between Trump and owners – as well as any forms of pressure directed at the league by the administration – are expected to shape the requests to force the testimony of Trump, Pence and other affiliated officials, sources said.
If Trump was calling player like Kaepernick “sons of bitches” in public, imagine what he was saying in private to the owners on those calls.
A few complicated things have to happen before they can actually compel Trump to attend a deposition, but if they can convince the arbitrator that it’s relevant, they have a case under the Federal Arbitration Act. But even if that works, there’s a question about whether Trump can effectively just “pardon” himself—a tactic he seems eager to deploy in other situations.
Trump’s lawyers are actually fighting on this ground in the Mueller case, arguing that the president can’t be compelled by a criminal subpoena. And if the DOJ can’t make him talk, it’s doubtful that Kaepernick’s people can.
That said, it looks like they’re going to try, and a funny wrinkle here is that if Trump is forced to depose, he could make himself legally liable based on his testimony. It would be amazing and somehow poetic to see our worst president brought down by our worst sport.