In early 2008, Donald Trump offered U.S. Senator Arlen Specter what appeared to be a bribe if Specter dropped his push for a congressional investigation into the Patriots' Spygate scandal, according to ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham.
According to ESPN, Specter once told Charles Robbins, the ghostwriter of his final book and a former aide, "On the signal stealing, a mutual friend had told me that 'if I laid off the Patriots, there'd be a lot of money in Palm Beach.' "
Specter, according to transcripts obtained by ESPN, replied, "I couldn't care less.