All is fair in love, war and apparently politics. Republicans are aiming to sway Patriots fans at the ballots by implicating a connection between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Deflategate.
According to TheHill.com, Clinton has received almost $250,000 in donations from investigating lawyers from the NFL scandal, including a $2,700 donation from Ted Wells, whose legal team investigated the Patriots and Tom Brady following last season’s AFC championship game.
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“If Hillary Clinton wants to convince New Hampshire voters that she shares their values, taking a quarter of a million dollars in campaign cash from Ted Wells and his law firm isn’t the way to go about it,” said Ian Prior, communications director of Karl Rove’s American Crossroads group.
Wells’ investigation resulted in a four-game suspension being handed to Brady by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, though that decision was later overturned by a federal judge.
Patriots fans may have already been leaning toward the Republican side of the ballot after Brady referred to Donald Trump as “a good friend” in December. Republican hopeful Ted Cruz also scored points with New England fans last summer when he said Brady was “framed.”