Donald Trump Says He Thinks NFL Owners Are Afraid of Their Players

President Donald Trump continued to sound off Thursday regarding NFL players protesting during the national anthem.

During an interview with Pete Hegseth on Fox & Friends (h/t FoxNews.com), Trump said he believes fear is a contributing factor to the NFL and its owners not taking issue with the demonstrations: "The NFL is in a box, and they have to do something about it. I think they're afraid of their players, if you want to know the truth."

Trump has been highly critical of the protests over the past week, and he addressed them recently at a rally in Alabama, saying: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b---h off the field right now? Out! He's fired! He's fired!'"

Following Trump's comments, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement supporting the league and its players, per USA Today:

"The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture. There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we've experienced over the last month.

"Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities."

On Thursday, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart also commented on what Trump had to say, specifically with regard to owners being afraid of their players, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk: "They're not accurate. They're not factual. But I'm not going to get in the business of fact-checking, so I'll leave it there."

Lockhart also said the NFL's owners are "united in a sense that the attacks on the game, on the NFL, on the players were unfair and unfounded," and that owners understand the issues "are being obscured and distorted by people with political agendas."

Protests increased significantly during Week 3 of the NFL season, with players on nearly every team raising a fist, kneeling, stretching, praying or staying in the tunnel during the anthem.

Some NFL owners even took part in the demonstrations, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who knelt with his team prior to the anthem before standing and locking arms with players during it.