WASHINGTON (AP) - With the Super Bowl fast approaching, a powerful Republican senator says he wants the NFL to explain why it let evidence of the New England Patriots cheating scandal be destroyed.

"I am very concerned about the underlying facts on the taping, the reasons for the judgment on the limited penalties and, most of all, on the inexplicable destruction of the tapes," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in a Thursday letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Specter is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"It's a league matter," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Friday during a news conference. "I don't know anything about it."

The Patriots play Sunday in the Super Bowl against the New York Giants.

NFL security confiscated a video camera and tape from a Patriots employee during New England's 38-14 victory over the New York Jets. The employee was accused of aiming his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.

Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, the maximum amount and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick. It was the biggest fine ever for a coach and the first time in NFL history a first-round draft pick has been confiscated as a penalty.

After its investigation, the NFL said it destroyed all materials it received from the Patriots.

The New York Times first reported Specter's comments.

"The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game," Specter said in a telephone interview with the newspaper. "It's analogous to the CIA destruction of tapes. Or any time you have records destroyed."