While campaigning in New Hampshire, Governor Chris Christie defended star Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the wake of the latest “Deflategate” investigation.
Christie reminded reporters that Brady is “one of the great athletes of our time,” although he is a Dallas Cowboys fan, not a Patriots fan.
He also questioned the Wells Report that was released on Wednesday and the media’s reaction to it.
“The fact is, the Wells Report came out and doesn’t seem all that conclusive,” Christie said, according to NJ.com. “Seems a lot of ‘probablys’ and ‘maybes.’”
“I have no reason to believe he lied or cheated,” he added.
Christie said it was “kind of silly” to have the story leading the national news, chiding the press for questioning him about it. He also suggested that the media was targeting Brady because of his success.
“I think the media and others love for somebody who’s married to a beautiful model, who’s richer than you can imagine and a future Hall-of-Famer to take a couple shots at him, people like that,” he said in an interview with IJReview earlier in the day, calling the media hyped scandal “way, way overblown.”
Brady himself addressed the controversy during an interview at an event at Salem State University in Massachusetts, defending his team’s effort in its Super Bowl victory.
When asked if the controversy tainted their win, Brady responded “absolutely not.”
“[W]e earned and achieved everything we got this year as a team,” he said. “I’m very proud of that, and our fans should be too.”