Two people close to Arlen Specter said Donald Trump offered campaign donations if the former Pennsylvania Senator would drop his push for a congressional review of the New England Patriots' Spygate scandal in 2008.

ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham reported Wednesday that Specter's son, Shanin, and his longtime communications aide, Charles Robbins, both alleged Trump said he was talking on behalf of Patriots owner Robert Kraft when he made the proposal. Spokespeople for both men denied the claim.

"This is completely false," Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said. "We have no idea what you're talking about."

A Patriots spokesperson added: "Mr. Kraft is not aware of any involvement of Trump on this topic, and he did not have any other engagement with Specter or his staff."

Specter died in 2012.

The Spygate scandal surrounded the Patriots' illegal videotaping of signals from New York Jets coaches during the first game of the 2007 regular season.

Pats head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, while the organization was fined $250,000 and forfeited its first-round pick in the 2008 NFL draft.

"This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field," commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to the Patriots at the time.

In May 2008, Specter alleged the Patriots' use of stolen signals was more widespread than the single instance against the Jets in 2007 based on information provided by former Patriots employee Matt Walsh, and he argued the league's investigation into the matter wasn't thorough enough.

"They owe the public a lot more candor and a lot more credibility," Specter said.

Last year, the Patriots were fined $1.1 million for illegally videotaping the Cincinnati Bengals' sideline during a December 2019 game, a situation dubbed Spygate 2.0.

As for the original scandal, Shanin Specter said his father was "pissed" about the conversation with Trump. He told ESPN: 

"My father told me that Trump was acting as a messenger for Kraft. But I'm equally sure the reference to money in Palm Beach was campaign contributions, not cash. The offer was Kraft assistance with campaign contributions. ... My father said it was Kraft's offer, not someone else's."

Specter's son added he isn't sure why his father didn't publicly come forward with information about the interaction with Trump or the apparent connection to Kraft amid his pursuit of a more intensive investigation, but he's confident his dad is on the right side of history in terms of the Patriots.

Shanin told ESPN:

"He was alone, but so what? He was used to that. He was a football fan who felt he'd been cheated and a Senator who felt the NFL needed to police themselves in order to maintain their congressional-awarded antitrust exemption. He was right on both counts. Now we know Belichick was, and is, a serial cheater and, in this instance, his boss closed ranks behind him."

Along with the two Spygate punishments, New England was fined $1 million and lost two draft picks for Deflategate for the alleged deflation of footballs before a January 2015 playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. Quarterback Tom Brady was also suspended four games.

Brady left the Patriots last year and proceeded to capture his seventh Super Bowl title as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February.