New England Patriots Player Reveals Why He Skipped Team Visit to White House

New England Patriots player Alan Branch said he chose not to visit President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl win, because he was “sickened” by Trump’s past remarks about women.

The 2017 Super Bowl champions visited the White House Wednesday, following the tradition of the President congratulating the winning team. Branch told CNN’s Don Lemon Wednesday night that he declined the invitation because of Trump’s behavior, CNN reported.

“It’s disgusting the way that he talks about women, and I just can’t deal with it, and that’s why I have no interest in going and shaking his hand,” Branch told Lemon. “I’ve gotta go back home and look my daughters in the eye, and I don’t want them to view me in a different light, just because I did that.”

Branch said he was offended by Trump’s comments in the 2005 Access Hollywood Tape in which Trump was caught on a hot mic talking about kissing or grabbing a woman’s body without consent. Trump apologized the night the Washington Post released the tape.

“I don’t understand still to this day, especially with how many women went out there and voted for him,” Branch told CNN. “I’m a man, and I was sickened by that, and it still happened. Everybody has their free choice of who they wanted, but that’s not a person I want to represent me, even though he is. He is President of the United States. He happens to represent me, but I’m not going to go out of my way to go meet the guy when I don’t have to.”

Fewer Patriots players visited Trump than attended the meeting with President Obama in 2015.

[CNN]