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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Navy Scandal; Patriots Address Cheating Allegations

Aired January 22, 2015 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: What did Tom Brady know and when did he know it?

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

The sports lead. The Patriots' head coach says he's shocked and has no idea if his quarterback cheated. And now suspect number one, quarterback Tom Brady, is going to speak to reporters in just minutes. Now, if he admits guilt in Deflategate, could he find himself sidelined for the Super Bowl?

The world lead. He's behind bars, accused of aiding the French terrorist who shot up that kosher supermarket, but now his lawyer says, yes, he's guilty. He bought tear gas grenades used in the attack, but the lawyer says he didn't have a choice.

And the buried lead, a real-life episode of "NCIS." The commanding officer at Gitmo shipped back stateside as the Navy looks into whether he slept with a married woman whose husband's lifeless body was just pulled out of the sea.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We are going to begin with the sports lead.

You're looking right now at live pictures from Foxborough, Gillette Stadium, where any minute now, we will hear from one of the most recognizable figures in sports, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, about the scandal taking the air, pardon the pun, out of his team's countdown to the biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady's expected to reveal what, if anything, he knew about his team using those deflated footballs during last Sunday's AFC Championship Game vs. the Indianapolis Colts. According to an ESPN report, 11 of the 12 game balls used by the Patriots did not have enough air in them, presumably making it easier to throw the ball or to catch the ball.

This morning, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made it clear he would not be taking the fall for his Q.B. or for anyone. On a news conference, Belichick pleaded ignorance, saying he has no idea how his team's footballs got so deflated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BELICHICK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: I have no explanation for what happened and that's what they're looking into. I was completely and totally unaware of any of this that we're talking about in the last couple days until Monday morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Keep in mind, of course, that Belichick is famous for being something of a control freak, for knowing all the details. He also said the footballs come down to Tom Brady's personal preference and if the media wanted more information, well, we would have to ask Tom Brady about it.

So did the coach basically throw his Q.B. under the bus?

Let's bring in CNN's Rachel Nichols.

Rachel, what are you expecting to hear from Tom Brady in just a few minutes?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of pressure on Tom Brady.

And remember, at the beginning of the week, he did his weekly radio spot and he laughed the whole thing off as ridiculous. He is not going to be able to do that today, especially since after more digging, we have found he is on record from 2011 talking about the fact that he likes to throw a more deflated football.

And here's something else interesting, Jake. In 2006, Tom Brady along with Peyton Manning went to the NFL owners, went to the Competition Committee, and he lobbied to change a rule. What was that rule? Well, it used to be that the home team supplied the footballs for both offenses. And he said, hey, I want to be able to supply my own footballs so that they're the way I like them.

And he got that rule changed. Now, what that means is that quarterbacks can scuff up the ball ahead of time, get that waxy stuff off of it. They can even soak the ball in water ahead of time. That makes it more impervious to rain and other weather conditions. But you can't deflate the football.

And that tells you how serious deflating the football is. That means that it gives you such a competitive advantage, the NFL doesn't want you to do it. We will have to see if that happened actively here on the Patriots; sideline.

TAPPER: And, Rachel, obviously, the Super Bowl, every year, it's one of the most watched, if not the most watched event in American television. Tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, and the NFL does not want people turning away because of a cheating scandal, although it does seem like no matter what tragedy or whatever befalls the NFL...

NICHOLS: There is nothing that seems to make Americans not watch the NFL.

(CROSSTALK) TAPPER: But here's the question, because you know this stuff better than I. First of all, if the balls are deflated, why doesn't that also help the opposing team? And, second of all, aren't the officials supposed to handle the ball and make sure they're OK?

NICHOLS: Well, this is the rule change that Tom Brady was involved in lobbying for in 2006. It used to be that the home team provided all the footballs, all the footballs were the same.

But the way the new rule came in is that each team gets to bring its own footballs and have 12 footballs into play with its own offense. So the Patriots had their 12 footballs. The Colts had their 12 footballs, and only your offense is supposed to be throwing to your receivers, your offensive player.

The reason that they got tripped up in this game is that the Colts intercepted one of Tom Brady's footballs. They took it to the sideline, they took it to their own equipment manager and said this doesn't feel right. The reason that they were even on alert for this to begin with is that they played the Patriots earlier in the season and on an interception, when they similarly got one of the Patriots' Tom Brady footballs, they took it back to the equipment manager and said, God, this just feels more squishy than a regular football.

So they were on alert for this. And it also opens the door to the question, was it just this one game? Because we have heard a lot of people say in the past few days, hey, the Colts won by such a -- the Colts lost, rather, by such a big margin, the Patriots beat them in so many ways, it doesn't matter how inflated or deflated the football was.

Well, if this was a systemic way to go around the rules game after game after game, it really brings the integrity of all of these games and the way the Patriots approach them into question.

TAPPER: Rachel, stay with us.

I just want to go right now to Alina Machado. She's on the phone. She is actually inside the room there that we are looking at live pictures from where Tom Brady is set to speak.

Alina, what can you tell us?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we know that Brady is expected to come out here around 4:30 Eastern time.

And when he comes out here, he's going to face a packed house. I counted at least some 22, 23 cameras. This room is packed with reporters eager to ask him questions. And media availability was not supposed to happen until tomorrow, but the team moved it up to today after coach Belichick made his remarks this morning.

We know Tom Brady is in a meeting right now. We don't know what that meeting is about or who is involved in that meeting. Earlier today, we spent some time in the Patriots' locker room talking to some of the players. Most of them seemed reluctant to talk to reporters, but the ones who did speak with us downplayed the controversy and much like Belichick, they insisted that they practice using footballs that are less than perfect, so implying that they don't need to use underinflated footballs in order to perform well.

They also said that their focus right now is on the Super Bowl. Now, even though there were some other players in that locker room, some star players like Julian Edelman, Brady was noticeably absent. And as Rachel mentioned, he laughed off questions about the controversy earlier this week during a live radio interview. It will be very interesting to see what he has to say in just a few moments, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Alina Machado, we are going to come back to you in a second.

Rachel, I want to turn back to you for one second, because have you heard through the grapevine any of the teams that played the Patriots this season making similar claims about footballs feeling unnaturally or abnormally squishy or is the Colts the first time that a team actually made that allegation?

NICHOLS: Well, the Colts had questions about this earlier in the season, so it wasn't just this one game.

TAPPER: OK.

NICHOLS: There were rumblings from the Ravens when they played them the previous week, in, by the way, a much closer game, there were some questions about some of the balls, but then they came out publicly and said that they had no issue.

This is also partly a sort of he said/he said kind of who's going to tattletale situation as well, where the culture of the NFL really punishes not only the team that's done something wrong, but there's a lot of turning backs on someone who has gone outside of the fraternity to tell on them.

That's what happened in the Spygate situation. Remember, the Jets coach at the time, Eric Mangini, who used to be an assistant coach for the Patriots and knew that this practice of taping the other offensive signals and defensive signals, which is against the rules, was going on, he reported it when he saw them doing it to them in a game.

Well, guess what? Not only did the Patriots get heavily fined for doing it, but Eric Mangini was heavily criticized for -- quote -- "tattletaling" and really a lot of people that he said -- quote -- "shouldn't have done that" and that it went outside of the way things should be.

I think you have other teams reluctant to -- quote -- "tell on the Patriots" if they have experienced that, but the NFL, now that they are investigating, they will be able to open some of those doors.

The side note to that, by the way, Jake, is the NFL realizes it is under a ton of scrutiny, the much, much more serious issue of domestic violence that has echoed through this season. One of the allegations there is that they didn't get it right over and over again, not just with the punishment, but the way that they investigated and didn't take it seriously enough. They want to make sure that with an integrity of the game issue, while certainly not as serious as domestic violence, that they do get it right this time.

TAPPER: Rachel, stay with us.

I want to bring in former New England Patriots player and NFL analyst Jermaine Wiggins, along with ESPN sports business analyst Andrew Brandt.

Jermaine, let me go to you first.

First, let's get your initial reaction to everything that has happened today.

JERMAINE WIGGINS, FORMER NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PLAYER: You know what, it's funny to me to hear a lot of this stuff. To me, I look at it like this.

There's no advantage by using a smaller football. And then for Rachel to come out and say that, you know, this is something that they have done in the past -- so it took -- Tom Brady has 143 career interceptions. What about the 142 interceptions? Nobody said anything. Nobody noticed anything when they felt the football.

I look at it like this. Every team doctors the football. Every quarterback doctors the football. They mess around with it. They get it to their feel. They want it to feel comfortable in their hand. It doesn't give a team an advantage.

I have caught footballs that were hard, I have caught footballs that were soft. To me, it's all about the quarterback's preference and that's the biggest thing here. This is a joke and it's the New England Patriots, and it all goes back to Spygate. It goes back to the way kind of Bill Belichick's personality is.

Everybody looks at him like he's arrogant, so he's got a bullseye on his back.

TAPPER: All right, well, I do want to give Rachel an opportunity...

(CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: Jake, I got to jump in here.

TAPPER: Yes, please go ahead. Go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: I was going to say, I never said that, Jermaine. And obviously we don't know what Tom Brady has or hasn't done in the past.

(CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: All that we can report is the Colts have come out and said. And we can also say, look, there's no question that underinflating a football is an advantage. Otherwise, it wouldn't be against the rules, and you wouldn't have quarterbacks talking at length about the fact that an underinflated football, an overinflated football, who likes to hold the football a certain way.

Footballs are scuffed up. They are doctored. They are all kinds of things within the rules that you can do to a football ahead of the game, but there are certain things that are against the rules. And the reason that they are against the rules is the NFL Competition Committee has decided that those things give you a competitive advantage.

Those are the rules of the game. And we don't know what the Patriots did. It's possible that the Patriots will say, hey, we inflated the game to the -- the ball to the absolute minimum, and then the temperature dropped, maybe dropped it a little bit lower than that, and that's why our footballs went under.

We don't know whether Tom Brady is going to come out here and say that they did it on purpose or whether it was circumstance. We will have to find that out. We can't cast blame right now.

But there's no question that the rule is in place for a reason.

(CROSSTALK)

WIGGINS: Rachel, the only reason why I said that is because you said now these games go into question, his career goes into question as far as how he uses the football, how the football was manipulated.

Believe me when I tell you, I have caught over 200 footballs and to tell you this, it's about the quarterback's preference. The smaller the ball, it's not going to travel as far, it's not going to come out as fast, it's not going to be more accurate because there's less air in the football. Every quarterback has a certain preference.

We all know about the Aaron Rodgers stuff where he said he likes to go -- he overinflates them because he likes a ball that's harder. We know about the Brad Johnson stuff where he said he wanted to scruff up his footballs before the Super Bowl. He paid to do that. Quarterbacks that have played, we saw some of the tweets from Matt Leinart, everybody does it and it doesn't give a team an advantage.

The reason why, because one team uses their own balls and the other team uses their own balls. They're not using the same footballs.

TAPPER: I want to bring in Andrew Brandt, if I can.

Andrew, thanks for joining us.

Bill Belichick, of course, is a known micromanager and he said today he had no idea about any of this until Monday. He never had any discussions about inflating balls before until this happened. Do you buy that?

ANDREW BRANDT, ESPN: I suppose I do.

I mean, I think what we first have to decide is that this everyone does it argument and it wouldn't have affected the game because they won by 35 points, those are irrelevant.

What we're talking about is two tenets of the NFL, competitive balance and integrity. And this upsets the competitive balance if they are not playing by the rules, they are not playing the way everyone else is playing. As to Belichick, he threw his cards on the table. He pushed his chips in.

He says he did not know, and I think you have to take him for his word. I will say this. I have been around the NFL 25 years as an agent and as a team executive with the Packers. I didn't know any of this stuff before this week, before -- administration of footballs and how it's done and ball boys and officials and how much time they have.

But I was front office. I was business. I was not coaching. I was not football operations. It does seem to strain the belief that someone with that much power in an organization would not have any discussions about football pressure over all these years.

So we will see. I think the NFL's concern is competitive balance. Every team is paranoid that other teams get a little bit of advantage and they are looking at this and saying, did the Patriots get advantage? It's not about everyone doing it. It's not about winning by 40 points. Did they get an advantage? That's what we're looking at.

And if they are underinflated, at whose direction? And we will hear from Brady about that.

TAPPER: Right.

I want to bring in Christine Brennan. She's a "USA Today" sports columnist, also a contributor to CNN.

Christine, she joins us by phone.

Let me ask you. We saw some serious punishments during the scandal with the New Orleans Saints and, you know, the hit lists. Do you think Tom Brady could be even suspended if it's revealed he had anything to do with this, and if not, do you think he should be?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Jake, it's a great question.

I don't think he will be suspended for the Super Bowl. I think that's, of course, something every -- it's on everyone's mind. So, I think he will play in the Super Bowl, no matter what.

But I could see a fine. I could even see suspension starting next year. I could see that. I think it depends on what we hear from him. And, you know, as you are preparing

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): Jake, it's a great question. I don't think he will be suspended for the Super Bowl. I think that's of course something on everyone's mind. I think he will play in the Super Bowl no matter what.

But I could see a fine. I could even see suspension starting next year. I could see that. I think it depends on what we hear from him.

And, you know, as you are preparing for this press conference, this has become one of the most important press conferences certainly this year and there have been a lot this year including Roger Goodell, the Ray Rice incident. This has exploded as we have watched and covered it the last few days.

This is Tom Brady's reputation, his career, everything on the line, the golden boy now going to face the toughest 20, 30 minutes of his career. And how he handles that I think, Jake, will speak volumes about punishment, about what Roger Goodell thinks because bottom line, little or big, funny, not funny, whatever we think of this, it's now a huge story in the NFL and it's a big deal in the NFL, even if it's not the world's biggest thing, it has become that. That's what Brady is looking at in these important minutes ahead.

TAPPER: No, absolutely. This is very suspenseful. We have one of the most famous and successful quarterbacks in the NFL just literally days before the most important sports event of the year. This is an important moment not only in sports but also in business and in American culture.

All of you stay where you are. We're going to take a very quick break and when we come back, we're going to talk more about this press conference and this scandal rocking the NFL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back. We are waiting for Tom Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback, to come out and speak to the press.

This is him? This is him. We're going to take a listen.

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: How you doing? Obviously, I would much rather be up here talking about the Seahawks and preparing for the Super Bowl which we have been trying to do for the last few days. But, you know, coach Belichick addressed it with you guys this morning.

And I wanted to give you guys the opportunity to ask questions that you want. I will do my best to provide the answers that I have, if any, and we'll go from there.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: When and how did you supposedly alter the balls?

BRADY: I didn't, you know, have any -- I didn't alter the ball in any way. I have a process that I go through before every game where I go in and I pick the balls that I want to -- the footballs that I want to use for the game. Our equipment guys do a great job of breaking the balls in. They have a process that they go through.

When I pick those footballs out, at that point, to me they're perfect. I don't want anyone touching the balls after that. I don't want anyone rubbing them, you know, putting any air in them, taking any air out. To me, those balls are perfect and that's what I expect when I show up on the field.

So, that happened obviously on Sunday night. It was the same process I always go through. I didn't think anything of it. I woke up Monday morning and answered a question on the radio about it and that was the first I really heard of it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: What do you think happened?

QUESTION: This has raised a lot of uncomfortable conversations from people around the country that you, three time Super Bowl champion and two time MVP as their idol. The questions they are asking themselves is, what's up with our hero? So, can you answer right now, is Tom Brady a cheater?

BRADY: I don't believe so. I mean, I feel I always played within the rules. I would never do anything to break the rules. I believe in fair play and I respect the league and everything they're doing to try to create a very competitive playing field for all the NFL teams.

It's a very competitive league. Every team is trying to do the best they can to win every week. You know, I believe in fair play and always believed in that for as long as I'm playing.

(INAUDIBLE)

BRADY: No, I think everyone is obviously trying to figure out what happened. I think that's the main thing over the last couple days, it's trying to figure out what happened. Like I said, I was as surprised as anybody when I heard Monday morning what was happening.

That's -- I think over the last few days, people have been trying to figure out as the NFL is trying to figure out, you know, what part of the process and, you know, from when I saw the ball which was five hours before halftime, what exactly happened.

QUESTION: Do all top quarterbacks doctor the balls? Do you feel you have done anything differently than anybody else in the league?

BRADY: I'm not sure. You know, I can only speak for myself. I think that there's a process that everybody goes through breaking in footballs and it's probably a lot like a baseball mitt when you're a kid. I try to explain that to my friends a lot, you know?

When you use it and that's your equipment, a football is something that I handle on every play. I want to be very familiar with the equipment that I'm using, just like my cleats, just like my helmet, just like my, you know, my pads.

You know, you go through that process of breaking the balls in and getting comfortable with them. Of course, I choose the balls that I want to use for the game, and then that's what I expect to go out on the playing field with.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: -- get this out of the way and take this head on so you can get focused on the Super Bowl?

BRADY: That's where the importance is, as far as I'm concerned. I know this is a very important thing and that's why I'm here addressing it. You know, I know my teammates, you know, we have accomplished something really special getting to this point. You know, I don't like the fact that this has taken away from some of the accomplishment of what we have achieved as a team. I think hopefully our best is still to come.

So, we're going to work as hard as we can over the next 10 days to put ourselves in great position to be prepared for the game.

(CROSSTALK)

BRADY: Yes?

QUESTION: Could you tell the difference from, quote-unquote, "underinflated" ball to overinflated ball and the balls you used in first half, did you notice a difference in the balls that were actually there for the second half? Would it make a difference?

BRADY: I didn't -- from the first half to the second half, I didn't think twice about it. I don't put one thought into the football at that point. You know, once I approve the ball, like I said, that's the ball that I expect out there on the field. So, it wasn't even a thought, inkling of a concern of mine that they were any different. I just assumed that they were exactly the same, first half, second half.

QUESTION: Tom, what do you say to the skeptics who say, look, the Patriots have had issues before, how can we possibly believe what Brady and the coach are saying now?

BRADY: Well, everybody has an opinion. I think everybody has the right to believe whatever they want. I don't ever cast judgment on someone's belief system and I don't, you know, that's what they feel like they want to do, then I don't have a problem with it.

I think part of being in this position and putting yourself under a spotlight like this and being open for criticism, I think that's very much part of being a professional athlete. So, you know, we can only express to you what our side is and how we approach it, and then everyone is going to make their own --

QUESTION: As a follow-up, are you comfortable within yourself that nobody on Sunday on the Patriots side did anything wrong?

BRADY: I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing of --

QUESTION: Are you comfortable that nobody did anything wrong?

BRADY: Yes, I'm very comfortable saying that. I'm very comfortable saying nobody did it, as far as I know. I don't know everything. I also understand that I, you know, was in the locker room preparing for a game. I don't know what happened over the course of the process with the footballs. I was preparing for my own job, doing what I needed to do.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Three or four years ago, you said that you liked the ball deflated. You were quoted saying you like throwing a deflated ball. You actually joked about Gronk spiking it because it oozes out a little bit of air and you like a softer ball. So, explain that comment in context of what you're dealing with this week.

BRADY: Yes, I know I remember, you know, I obviously read that I said that. You know, I like them the way I like them, which is at 12.5. To me that's a perfect grip for the football. So, I mean, I think that particular term, deflated or inflated, whatever norm you're using, you could probably use. I would never do anything outside of the rules of the play. I would never, you know, have someone do something that I thought was outside of --

QUESTION: So, you have never knowingly played with a football that was under 12.5 pounds of pressure?

BRADY: No.

QUESTION: Can you try to find out why the ball -- in the last few days, why the balls were so underinflated? I mean, obviously, it's important to you and the reputation of the Patriots. Have you tried to find out? Even though, you don't know that (ph). Or should you have tried to find out why the balls were underinflated?

BRADY: That's a great question. I think there's a lot of people that have more information than me. You know, I only know what I have kind of gone through and the process that I have, you know, taken as part of the game and the post-game, as well as trying to prepare for the Super Bowl.

So, you know, I have questions, too, but you know, there's nobody that I know that can answer the questions that I have. So, I just have tried my best to focus on what I need to do to be prepared for Seattle.

QUESTION: Do you know the look and feel of footballs you like. Do you think there could have been other games where you played with underinflated footballs since that football you played with is obviously something you preferred?

BRADY: I don't know. I don't -- like I said, once I'm out on the field I'm playing -- I have no thought of the football at that point. I'm thinking about the defense, I'm thinking about the execution of the play and what I need to do. I'm not thinking about how the football feels. I grip the football and --

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Are you saying, hey, I played with an underinflated ball before?

BRADY: I have no idea. I have no idea. The first I heard of it, obviously Monday morning was the first I heard of it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: If someone held accountable, if it's found that someone did improperly tamper with the balls in some ways, is it important for you, to the legacy of this team, if someone held accountable?

BRADY: Well, that's for -- I'm not the one that imposes, you know, those type of accountability, you know, discipline, all that. That's not really my job. So, you know, obviously, I would like to know what happened as you all would, too.

In the meantime I'm going to try to do the best I can to get ready to play against the Seahawks because I can't do anything of what's happened in the past. I have to just go forward with the most awareness as I can going forward and trying to be the best I can be for our team.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Everybody is entitled to their opinions and beliefs, right? But how does it make you feel that they are calling your team cheaters on a week -- two weeks before the Super Bowl?

BRADY: You know, I think a big part of playing here is trying to ignore the outside forces and influences and people that are maybe fans of your team or not fans of your team, or fans of yourself or not fans of yourself.

Like I said, everybody is entitled to an opinion. Those opinions rest with those people, you know. I think you can just go out and try to be the best person you can be, deal with people with respect, with honesty, with integrity, have a high moral standard and I have always really tried to exemplify that as an athlete and I will continue to try to do that.

(INAUDIBLE)

BRADY: We've got a lot of motivation. I would say we've got a lot of motivation as a team. You know, I think our team's overcome a lot of adversity this year. I think sometimes in life, the biggest challenges end up being the best things that happen in your life. And we have overcome a lot of those this year as a team.

So, we can rally around one another and support one another. You can be the best teammate you can possibly be and you can go out and support each other and try to go win a very important game.

QUESTION: Did you address your teammates today? And if so, what did you say to them?

BRADY: Those are very personal things with my teammates. So, that's -- it was very personal comments.

QUESTION: When you pick out the balls, Tom, is that before they went through the referees?

BRADY: Yes. It's always the same process. I get here, you know, the playoffs I got here pretty early before the games and then I go in there and I choose however many balls are necessary for the game. Sometimes it's 12, 16, 18, 24. This last particular game was 24.