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Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre sought help from then-President Donald Trump in 2019 when he was seeking funding for an experimental concussion drug that has become part of the welfare fraud cause in Mississippi.

Per ESPN.com's Anthony Olivieri, former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant released text messages on Thursday showing he had communication with Favre about enlisting Trump's help to secure money.

The texts from Oct. 2019 show Bryant asking Favre if he "heard from Trump about going to his rally," and the former president asked Bryant to "make sure you were attending."

"We need him to champion treatment of Brain Injuries among NFL players," Bryant wrote to Favre in a text. "He can make all the difference with your help...we have a cure."

Olivieri noted it's unclear if Favre attended the rally.

Per a November report from Ken Dilanian and Laura Strickler of NBC News, Favre was a major investor in Odyssey Health and partnered with a neuroscientist to promote a nasal spray drug they said was "designed to quickly treat brain injuries from a concussion."

Court records obtained by Dilanian and Strickler said Favre successfully lobbied Mississippi state government officials for a grant of $2.1 million in federal welfare money that was intended to help families in need.

According to Olivieri, texts from Bryant sent a few weeks after the initial messages show he and Favre, along with Prevacus founder Jacob VanLandingham, discussed a potential White House summit that VanLandingham said "could be huge" for the company on Nov. 22, 2019.

Olivieri noted the trio talked in text exchanges about inviting athletes like Tom Brady, Herschel Walker and Tiger Woods to the summit, which they wanted to "take place before the Super Bowl and include Trump greeting them in the Oval Office."

There's no evidence any of those athletes were contacted or that the summit actually took place, per Olivieri.

On Nov. 8, ESPN's Mark Fainaru-Wada reported the companies backed by Favre and founded by VanLandingham "exaggerated the known effectiveness of their drugs" in an attempt to raise money.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services filed a civil lawsuit against 38 individuals or entities in May 2022 in an attempt to get back roughly $24 million in federal funds that were meant to aid poverty in the state.

Favre was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, though he hasn't been criminally charged. He has sought dismissal from the lawsuit, but Mississippi circuit judge Faye Peterson ruled last week he must remain in the case.

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Brett Favre Sought Help from Donald Trump in 2019 for Concussion Drug Funding - Bleacher Report