The White House has blamed the Eagles for President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel the ceremony to celebrate their Super Bowl victory.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sensed “a lack of good faith” by the Eagles during discussions about the scheduled event, according to today’s statement.
According to Sanders, the Eagles notified the White House on May 31 that 81 individuals would attend the event, which was scheduled for Tuesday. A group of 1,000 Eagles fans also were scheduled to be a part of the ceremony.
But late Friday, the Eagles attempted to reschedule the event, according to Sanders, though it had already been announced that Trump would be traveling overseas on the team’s proposed dates.
“The White House, despite sensing a lack of good faith, nonetheless attempted to work with the Eagles over the weekend to change the event format that could accommodate a smaller group of players,” Sanders’ statement said. “Unfortunately, the Eagles offered to send only a tiny handful of representatives, while making clear that the great majority of players would not attend the event, despite planning to be in D.C. today. In other words, the vast majority of the Eagles team decided to abandon their fans.”
The Eagles did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The team had been deliberating for weeks how to best approach the trip to make it an experience the players could agree on and share together.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins had said there would be different stops built in for those who wanted to go to Washington but not participate in the White House ceremony, with the opportunity to do “as little or as much as you want.”
