The White House announced Monday night that the Philadelphia Eagles had been disinvited from a Super Bowl celebration hours before it was to take place. The ceremony, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, was abruptly called off in part because several players had said they wouldn't attend, according to a statement released by the White House.

With criticism mounting throughout the morning Tuesday, the White House issued a statement defending its decision because Eagles players had "abandoned" their fans.

"The White House, despite sensing a lack of good faith, nonetheless attempted to work with the Eagles over the weekend to change the event format that could accommodate a smaller group of players," the statement read in part. "Unfortunately, the Eagles offered to send only a tiny handful of representatives, while making clear that the vast majority of players would not attend the event, despite planning to be in D.C. today. In other words, the vast majority of the Eagles team decided to abandon their fans."

According to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie had planned to send a smaller contingent to the White House as a way to avoid putting his players in a difficult spot. Garafolo reported that contingent would have consisted of fewer than 10 players. ESPN's Adam Schefter added that "a large group of Eagles players had decided not to attend, including most -- if not all -- of the black players." 

"The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House," President Trump tweeted late Monday evening. "Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event. Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!"

According to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House decided to call off the event because there was a belief inside the administration that the Eagles were trying to pull some kind of "political stunt." Sanders also said it was the Eagles who backed out.  

"If it wasn't a political stunt, they wouldn't have attempted to reschedule an event for when they knew that the president would be out of the country and they wouldn't have waited until the the very last minute to make these changes, if this wasn't about some type of political statement that they were trying to make toward this president," Sanders said in her daily press briefing on Tuesday 

Some NFL players have chosen to kneel during the national anthem the last two seasons to protest social injustice. And while the Eagles have been among the league's most outspoken teams on these issues, Philadelphia players neither knelt nor remained in the locker room for the anthem during the 2017 campaign, according to SportsPundit.com, which tracked protests last season.

According to Sanders, the Eagles should have been well aware of Trump's beliefs on the anthem and shouldn't have committed to the event if they weren't comfortable with them. 

"His position [on the anthem] hasn't changed on this throughout the process and the president's position was very clearly stated in a number of forums and venues and the Eagles made the commitment to come and to be a part of that event well after the president had established his feelings in regards to the national anthem and once again, they made that change at the last minute, not the president," Sanders said. 

During her daily press briefing on Tuesday, Sanders made it pretty clear that the White House was irked at the fact that the Eagles made that "last minute" change and cut down their guest list. 

"The Eagles were the ones that committed to a event on Friday," Sanders said. "They submitted over 80 members of the Eagles franchise for the event along with over 1,000 fans to participate and it was the Eagles organization that tried to change their commitment at the 11th hour."

U.S. Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania said he would not attend the White House celebration and invited the Eagles to Congress instead.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, a Republican who is not seeking re-election, also weighed in.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney invited the Eagles to City Hall in a statement that praised the team and criticized the president. 

Below is the full White House statement.

After extensive discussions with the Eagles organization, which began in February, the team accepted an invitation from the President to attend a June 5 celebration of their victory in Super Bowl LII at the White House.

On Thursday, May 31, the team notified the White House of 81 individuals, including players, coaches, management, and support personnel, who would attend the event. On Friday, the Secret Service cleared them for participation. These individuals, along with more than 1,000 Eagles fans, were scheduled to attend the event.

Late Friday, citing the fact that many players would not be in attendance, the team contacted the White House again, and attempted to reschedule the event. The President, however, had already announced that he would be traveling overseas on the dates the Eagles proposed. The White House, despite sensing a lack of good faith, nonetheless attempted to work with the Eagles over the weekend to change the event format that could accommodate a smaller group of players. Unfortunately, the Eagles offered to send only a tiny handful of representatives, while making clear that the vast majority of players would not attend the event, despite planning to be in D.C. today. In other words, the vast majority of the Eagles team decided to abandon their fans.

Upon learning these facts, the President decided to change the event so that it would be a celebration of the American flag with Eagles fans and performances by United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus.