Donald Trump isn’t the only leader battling the Beltway media.
Speaking with reporters at the opening Baltimore Ravens training camp on Wednesday, head coach John Harbaugh objected to the framing of a question about his family’s recent Oval Office meeting with the President.
Harbaugh was specifically asked about his decision to meet with Trump in light of the President’s previous comments about Baltimore. In 2019, for instance, Trump described the nearly 300-year-old city as a ‘disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess’ where ‘no human being would want to live.’
‘How you framed that question — I would have framed that question like: “You got a chance to go visit with the president, man. What was that experience like?” Harbaugh told the reporter.
‘It was amazing,’ Harbaugh continued, answering his own question. ‘It was awesome.’
Harbaugh, 62, and his 61-year-old brother Jim, the Los Angeles Chargers head coach, were leaving the White House earlier this month, leading to speculation the two met with Trump. Soon after, Outkick’s Clay Travis posted a photo online showing the brothers with Trump, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh disagreed with the framing of a question about Donald Trump
Clay Travis posted a photo online showing the Harbaugh brothers with Trump, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, U.S. trade rep Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnic
On Wednesday, the elder Harbaugh brother refrained from any political commentary and instead emphasized his support for the office of the president.
‘And I promise you I root for our president,’ Harbaugh said. ‘I want our president to be successful just like I want my quarterback to be successful and I want my team to be successful, and it was an amazing experience.’
Harbaugh has met with three other presidents, including Barack Obama after Baltimore won Super Bowl XLVII in February of 2013.
But as proud as he is of that, he concedes brother Jim has him beat.
‘He’s got seven [presidents], I got four,’ John Harbaugh said Wednesday. ‘I had a chance to meet President Obama twice — incredible experience.
‘Had a chance to meet President Biden when he was vice president in Iraq, and spent a lot of time with him in Iraq,’ Harbaugh continued. ‘Jim got invited also to the White House to meet President Reagan because he was a Heisman Trophy candidate. We got to go as a family, so I met President Reagan — have a picture in my office of that.’
As for the details of the Harbaugh family meeting with Trump and Lutnick, the Chargers’ head coach previously said it was a first-time encounter for everyone involved. And although it was intended to be brief, Trump wasn’t rushing him out the door.
John Harbaugh is seen alongside Barack Obama and ex-Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome in 2013
Jim Harbaugh addresses reporters at the opening of Chargers camp in El Segundo last week
‘Met President Trump at 4:30, 4:45, and then it was after 5, and we were still talking,’ Jim Harbaugh said last week. ‘You could tell he wasn’t going to be the first to leave. I’m sure he wanted to go get dinner or something.’
Trump even asked about Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, leading Harbaugh to say POTUS is ‘very knowledgeable about all sports and especially football.’
The Harbaughs and Trump were hardly the only significant attendees at the meeting.
Huang is now a central figure in the ongoing debate over AI technology and the semiconductor industry. His company was the first to reach a $4 trillion market cap, and now Huang has emerged as a key supporter for Trump, whom he’s credited for leading America’s AI industry.
Lutnick, meanwhile, has been a key appointee in Trump’s battle with his Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, who continues to face calls from the White House to lower interest rates.
And like Trump, Lutnick has also been scrutinized for his past ties to disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which included some real estate dealings.
Lutnick has stated he ‘had no personal relationship, contact, or direct dealings” with Epstein.
