Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa) announced today that in the course of a nearly two-hour meeting, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told him that the New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick had been illegally taping defensive signals since 2000, prior to being caught during Week 1 of 2007. Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots organization fined $250,000 as a consequence of his actions. The team additionally was forced to forfeit a first-round draft pick. Following an almost perfect season, Belichick was nonetheless named NFL Coach of the Year.

In his announcement, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he was particularly interested in why the tapes of the so-called Spygate scandal were erased within days of their discovery.

“There was an enormous amount of haste,” said Specter. Goodell assured him there had been no effort to cover-up Belichick’s wrongdoing, noting that it was the league that came forward with the allegations first. Nevertheless, Specter remained skeptical. “I found a lot of questions unanswerable because…the tapes and notes had been destroyed,” he said.

Specter has vowed to pursue the matter further, and during the meeting raised the possibility of Congress revoking the NFL’s antitrust exemption.