Trump’s appearance Wednesday has brought NABJ leadership a firestorm of criticism, for extending the invitation, and other concerns such as the inclusion of a Fox news sycophant and lack of Black media among the questioners. PHOTO COURTESY OF YOUTUBE.COM
Miami – Former President Donald Trump questioned the racial background of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Harris among other false attacks against the vice president.
Trump was interviewed by Black journalists on Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago when he said Harris "happened to turn Black a number of years ago."
Asked about some Republicans labeling Harris as a "DEI hire," Trump, after bickering with ABC’s Rachel Scott over the definition of DEI, responded: "I’ve known [Harris] a long time indirectly, not directly, very much. And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. 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. So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?" The moderators for the session were Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba.
Another hot topic was immigration as Trump was pressed to explain his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance from Ohio, who said he supports mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Vance at a rally last week, said illegal immigrants are causing the housing crisis and taking jobs from Americans.
Trump agreed and said he blames immigrants for stealing jobs and government resources from Blacks.
He also made several baseless claims attacking the nation’s voting system.
Trump said inflation is not only hurting the country but the Black community as well and police officers should get immunity from prosecution under his proposed policy even in the aftermath of the Sonya Massey police-involved shooting.
Trump began with controversial comments telling Scott her first question was disrespectful and saying the audio system was poor.
"It’s hard to hear you, very difficult," Trump said. "I thought ABC had better equipment."
Scott and Goba pressed Trump on inflation and how he can reverse increasing prices if he’s elected to office for the second time.
Trump, who blames the Biden administration for inflation, said it’s hurting the working class, middle class and every class and the Black community is impacted the most.
He said inflation is preventing young Blacks from purchasing a home.
"They have no money because of inflation," Trump said. "Blacks’ dream of buying a home is destroyed because of inflation."
Trump said bringing down the energy rates is one way to address inflation. Trump was also pressed on his proposed policy that police officers should be granted immunity from prosecution in deadly shootings.
Scott was referring to the police involved shooting death of Massey, a Springfield, Illinois woman who was gunned down inside her home after calling 911 to report an intruder on July 6.
The deputy sheriff Sean Grayson who fired the shot was terminated and charged with three counts of first degree murder.
Trump said he was not familiar with the case but said "It doesn’t look good to me’’ when the journalists described the events on July 6 that took Massey’s life.
Trump said police officers granted immunity from prosecution depends on whether the shooting was a mistake.
"It’s unfair to prosecute a police officer who made a mistake," Trump said. "The difference is between a bad person and an innocent person who made a mistake."
Trump then used the prosecution against him as an example of an innocent person who’s targeted by the Biden administration to hurt his election plan.
As he went on, the moderators had to cut his comments short on the topic because time was running out and they wanted Trump to respond to Vance’s, 2021 childless cats comments directed toward Harris and other Democrats.
"We need to move on," said Scott.
"You held me up for 35 minutes," Trump responded.
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