President Trump's administration today "escalated its fight with the Eagles, blaming the team" for Trump's "decision to uninvite the Super Bowl champions and accusing players of choosing to 'abandon' their fans." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that 81 "players, personnel, coaches and support staff had been confirmed late last week to attend Tuesday’s gathering on the White House lawn, along with more than 1,000 fans -- but that the team tried to reschedule when it became clear many players wouldn’t attend" (PHILLY.com, 6/5).
Meanwhile, Eagles S Malcolm Jenkins in a statement posted on Twitter said of Trump linking the rescinded invitation to players kneeling during the national anthem, "The decision was made to lie, and paint the picture that these players are anti-America, anti-flag and anti-military" (TWITTER.com, 6/5).
The Eagles’ celebration was supposed to take place at 3:00pm ET today, but was instead replaced by a “Celebration of America.” Trump sang the national anthem while backed by the U.S. Marine Band, spoke for several minutes, then sang “God Bless America.” He did not refer to the Eagles or the NFL by name in his remarks. The whole event took less than 10 minutes (C-SPAN, 6/5).
