Patriots Owner Called Tax Bill 'Incredible,' Trump Says
WASHINGTON (CBS) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has high praise for the Republican tax bill, according to President Donald Trump.
As the president signed the bill into law Friday morning, he told reporters about a phone call he got the night before from "friend of mine Bob Kraft."
"He said 'this tax bill is incredible,'" Trump recalled.
Keller @ Large: What Tax Bill Means For Economy
Besides owning the Patriots, the New England Revolution and Gillette Stadium, Kraft is also in the paper business. Kraft's International Forest Products company does business in more than 90 countries, according to his biography on the Patriots website.
Trump said the new policy has prompted Kraft to take action.
"Based on this tax bill he just wanted to let me know that he's going to buy a big plant in the great state of North Carolina," Trump said. "He's going to build a tremendous paper mill there or paper products plant."
A spokesman for the Kraft group released a statement in responses to Trump's comments on Friday.
"Mr. Kraft has long been an advocate for tax reform that would be a catalyst for economic growth and job creation," the statement read. "Yesterday, he had a private conversation with the President to express his support for the tax bill that was just signed, as he believes it will spur significant incremental capital investment that will drive economic growth and most importantly create real wage increases for working Americans across the country."
The statement goes on to say that it appears Kraft's own taxes will go up under the new law, something the Patriots owner believes "was the right thing to do."
Kraft was a guest at Trump's inauguration festivities and was spotted on Air Force One with the president in March. But he did call Trump's comments about NFL protests during the national anthem "inflammatory and inappropriate."
