Trump insults Harris, makes false claims, quarrels with Black journalists at conference

Former President Donald Trump at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago with, from left, Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News; Kadia Goba, politics reporter at Semafor; and Harris Faulkner, anchor of The Faulkner Focus and co-host of Outnumbered on Fox News. Photo by William J. Ford

CHICAGO — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faced questioning Wednesday from a National Association of Black Journalists panel in a turbulent session during which he falsely claimed Vice President Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black” during her political career.

Through the roughly 35-minute combative event, the former president rarely answered questions, lied and exaggerated, attacked Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, and criticized one of the Black journalists interviewing him, ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott.

“I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit,” Trump said. “I love the Black population of this country.”

The discussion was also moderated by Kadia Goba, a politics reporter at Semafor, and Harris Faulkner, a Fox News anchor.

Many NABJ members strongly opposed Trump’s visit, especially given his treatment of high-profile Black women journalists, and the announcement of his appearance sparked a major backlash. Members were also critical of the lack of transparency around the invitation to Trump and the inclusion of a moderator from the conservative Fox network.

Trump attacked ABC’s Scott and called her questions “rude” and her media outlet a “fake news network.”

Scott asked Trump why Black voters should trust him, especially after Trump has made false claims that political rivals such as former President Barack Obama were not born in the United States, has dined with a white supremacist at his Florida residence and has slammed Black journalists.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump said.

Scott pressed Trump about Republican members of Congress who have referred to Harris, the first Black woman and woman of Asian American descent to serve as vice president, as a so-called DEI hire. She asked if that was acceptable language.

Trump didn’t answer the question and asked Scott to define DEI, which she said stood for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Trump then questioned whether Harris was Black.

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said. “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, D.C., and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, a historic Black sorority. Her father is Jamaican, and her late mother was an Indian immigrant.

Harris in Houston

Harris, who was endorsed by President Joe Biden after he bowed out of his reelection campaign last week, was invited by NABJ to take questions as well, but her confirmation is pending, the organization said. She was traveling Wednesday to Houston for events including a campaign stop.

NABJ President Kenneth Lemon said the organization is working on a virtual session with Harris in September.

On Trump’s participation in the panel, Harris campaign Black media director Jasmine Harris, who is not related to the vice president, said in a statement, “Let’s remember exactly who this man is.”

“Not only does Donald Trump have a history of demeaning NABJ members and honorees who remain pillars of the Black press, he also has a history of attacking the media and working against the vital role the press play in our democracy,” she said.

Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement that Trump’s behavior during the interview was hostile.

“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler said. “Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.”

The Trump campaign has used the invitation to argue that the former president’s support among Black voters has grown. Before Biden suspended his campaign in mid-July, about 77% of Black voters said they would vote for Biden and about 18% of Black voters indicated they would vote for Trump in this fall’s presidential election, according to a Pew Research Center report from May.

NABJ fact-checking

In an email to members Wednesday morning, Lemon stressed that the organization’s invitation was not an endorsement and that there would be live fact-checking from PolitiFact during the session. Members who attended were not allowed to ask questions.

“While we acknowledge the concerns expressed by our members, we believe it is important for us to provide our members with the opportunity to hear directly from candidates and hold them accountable,” Lemon said. “We also want to provide our members with the facts.”’

Nichelle Smith, an independent investigative journalist from Virginia, said after the panel that it was clear where Trump stood with the Black community.

“I thought he was horribly rude to Rachel Scott and I commend her and the other woman on the panel for not softballing and asking hard questions out the gate because I doubt he has rarely been confronted with hard questions by Black women,” she said.

NABJ tradition

Inviting a presidential candidate during an election year has been an NABJ tradition since 1976. Former presidents have attended and participated in either a news conference or other question-and-answer formats, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Obama. In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton attended, but Trump, who was also invited, did not.

The announcement late Monday that Trump would show up caused a firestorm among NABJ members. Karen Attiah, a columnist with the Washington Post, resigned from her position as NABJ Convention Co-chair.

“While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format,” said Attiah, who was the 2019 NABJ Journalist of the Year.

April Ryan, a White House correspondent for TheGrio, a media company geared toward Black Americans, and NABJ’s 2017 Journalist of the Year, objected to the session in a social media post.

“The reports of attacks on Black women White House correspondents by the then president of the United States are not myth or conjecture, but fact,” she said.

During his first term, Trump often sparred with the White House press corps, but he was particularly harsh when it came to Black women journalists, such as Ryan, Abby Phillip from CNN and Yamiche Alcindor, a White House correspondent for PBS.

Ryan, who typically bore the brunt of those attacks, said the decision to hold a panel with Trump was “a slap in the face to the Black women journalists … who had to protect themselves from the wrath of this Republican presidential nominee who is promoting an authoritarian agenda that plans to destroy this nation and her democracy with his Project 2025.”

Editorial Director of Epicenter NYC Femi Redwood, who chairs NABJ’s LGBTQ+ task force, wrote in a social media post that the panel was not made aware of Trump’s invite and objected, “considering the damage he has caused Black queer and trans people — including those who are journalists and members of NABJ.”

“I’m disappointed that in a space where so many queer and trans members still feel vulnerable will now feel even more unsafe due to Trump being invited and the possibility of his most vicious followers coming to the hotel to support him,” she said.

Some defenders

Some NABJ members did defend the decision, such as Leroy Chapman Jr., the editor-in-chief of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Here is what we need to ‘normalize’ — candidates for office standing before journalists, answering questions,” he said in a social media post.

A handful of pro-Trump supporters were able to attend the event, such as radio personality P Rae Easley of Chicago, who cheered when Trump went on stage.

In a States Newsroom interview, she said that Trump has done a lot for the Black community.

“You got to be a fool to continue to support the policies” of the Biden administration, she said.

Goba asked about Trump’s support for giving police officers immunity. She asked about Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman who called 911 for help and was shot and killed by a deputy.

“Why should someone like that officer get immunity?” Goba asked.

Trump said that he didn’t know the case well and said an officer could make an “innocent mistake.”

“Sometimes very bad decisions are made, they’re not made from an evil standpoint, but they’re made from the standpoint of they made a mistake,” Trump said.

Scott, who covers Congress, asked about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and about the law enforcement officers who were injured by the mob of pro-Trump supporters. She asked Trump if Jan. 6 rioters who have been convicted should be pardoned.

Trump didn’t answer the question and brought up Minnesota, criticizing protests there and across the nation that erupted after a video was publicized showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, who died.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, was later convicted of murder.

J.D. Vance questions

Goba asked Trump about his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and his comments demeaning single women, calling them “childless cat ladies.”

Trump never answered the question and went off-topic, attacking Democrats and falsely claiming that they were allowing abortions after birth.

Scott also asked Trump about comments Vance has made about how people with children should be allowed to have more votes than those without.

“One of the bedrock principles of American life is, one person, one vote,” Scott said. “I just want to be clear here, is that the position of your campaign?”

Trump said that the campaign did not believe families should receive more votes and defended Vance.

“He is very family-oriented,” Trump said.

Trump then veered into immigration and falsely claimed that noncitizens were voting in federal elections, which is already illegal and rarely happens.

After the event, Trump senior adviser Lynne Patton criticized the media for “unprofessional commentary directed toward” the former president.

“Today’s biased and rude treatment from certain hostile members of the media will backfire massively,” Patton said in a statement. “This will be their undoing in 2024.”

– Andrea Shaw contributed to this report in Chicago.