WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 19: U.S. President Donald Trump poses for photographs with the New England Patriots during a celebration of the team’s Super Bowl victory on the South Lawn at the White House April 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. It was the team’s fifth Super Bowl victory since 1960. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(SP) – Pushing back against claims from the New York Times and others that there was a low turnout of New England Patriots players and staffers at Wednesday’s championship ceremony with President Trump, press secretary Sean Spicer claimed today that the team has not yet left the grounds and is planning to play its entire 2017 home schedule on the South Lawn.

“Not only were there a record number of Patriots at the White House yesterday, including every Patriots player who has ever lived, putting the total into the thousands,” Spicer told reporters today, “but we also had all of the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics here, too, all to show support for our president. You won’t see them in any photos because they were standing out of frame, but they were here.”

And despite the Super Bowl ceremony ending early yesterday afternoon, Spicer says the Patriots love President Trump so much that they have decided to live in the White House with him.

“I think champions recognize champions and they want to be together,” said the press secretary. “It will be tight living quarters, but we’ll make it work.”

Spicer said the team has also demanded to play all of its 2017 home games on the South Lawn “because they like President Trump so much. I can’t reiterate how much they said that and told me to tell it to all of you.”

The White House also announced today that the Trump’s approval rating has hit a record high 69% according to the research group Gronk Polling.

Also see … Experts say North Korea unfortunately doesn’t have a missile capable of hitting White House during Patriots visit

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