President Donald Trump was clear with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: He wasn't going to let up in his criticism of NFL players who were kneeling during the national anthem.

"This is a very winning, strong issue for me," Trump told the Cowboys owner in a phone call last fall, according to a sworn deposition Jones gave in the Colin Kaepernick grievance case that was obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

"Tell everybody, you can't win this one," Trump said, as recalled by Jones in the deposition, according to The Wall Street Journal. "This one lifts me."

The Wall Street Journal's report comes on the heels of a new national anthem policy approved by NFL owners at their meetings in Atlanta last week that requires players to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" if they are on the field. They will have the option to stay in the locker room during the anthem, but the team will be fined by the league if the players on the field don't stand while the anthem is being played.

On Wednesday, Sept. 27 of last year, Trump tweeted that he spoke with Jones on Tuesday following a Monday Night Football game featuring the Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals.

Spoke to Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Jerry is a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017

Trump appeared to be referring to how the Cowboys handled the national anthem before that game in Arizona, where Jones joined Dallas players and coaches as they took a knee before the anthem and then stood together with arms locked during "The Star-Spangled Banner."

That Friday, Jones addressed the phone call on 105.3 The Fan's Shan and RJ show [KRLD-FM].

"I'm not going to get into it," Jones said. "He did call. He was complimentary, which doesn't mean that in any way we acquiesced to what he was implying. What we did was exclusive from that. What we wanted to do was basically make a statement and certainly not dishonor the flag.

"Anybody in the United States, for the most part, I'm talking the great majority of people, it's madness to think that somebody would dishonor the flag. The debate is whether you are dishonoring it or not. That's where people get their case. So just to stand up there and say a group such as the NFL and our players are doing anything that doesn't respect the flag is just not something that could be accepted. Our effort specifically said it's different when the flag is out and we're going to stand and honor the flag than when it is not out.

"Where I'm coming from here is the implication that there was some kind of pat on the back or anything like that is really not the case. It was a simple discussion. I know him. I've known him for several years. ... There are many things we don't agree on."

-- Read The Wall Street Journal's full report here.