President Donald Trump criticized free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick during a rally on Monday by saying that no National Football League owners wanted "to pick him up" because they didn't want to be tweeted at by Trump.
He started off with a stab at Kaepernick's popularity, NBC News reported on Monday.
"And you know, your San Francisco quarterback," he said. "I’m sure nobody ever heard of him. I’m just reporting the news."
Trump then cited an article that said teams at the NFL didn't want to sign Kaepernick out of fear of being tweeted at by the president.
"There was an article today—I love to report the news and then they said I made a mistake, right?" Trump said. "I said, 'No, the people reporting the news made a mistake if it’s wrong.' But there was an article today, it was reported that NFL owners don’t want to pick him up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump."
"Do you believe that?" he continued.
Trump then brought up the fact as to why Kaepernick made headlines for his controversial protest.
"I just saw that," Trump said. "I just saw that. I said if I remember that one I’m gonna report it to the people of the Kentucky. Because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag."
Kaepernick's controversy came in Aug. 2016 for refusing to stand during the national anthem as a protest to "what he deem[ed] are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United States."