Donald Trump will answer reporters’ questions on Wednesday on the National Association of Black Journalists' annual convention in Chicago as he revamps his presidential campaign to face his likely electoral rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump's question-and-answer session before a live audience, which is predicted to handle the most important issues facing the black community, has already sparked a backlash inside the organization.
The Republican candidate will speak with Fox News host Harris Faulkner, ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba. The hour-long event will likely be streamed survive the group's website at 1 p.m. ET. Facebook And Youtube Pages.
Questions from the audience to Trump weren’t allowed, the NABJ said.
Harris will not be attending the meeting, but the NABJ about Wednesday said her team is in discussions about scheduling either a virtual or in-person question-and-answer session in September.
The appearance on the party convention gives Trump, who only 12% of black voters in his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, a possibility to directly address voters of color on a vital platform.
However, competing with Harris, the primary black vice chairman, the primary woman and the primary person of South Asian descent, he may find it tougher to woo these voters.
Some Survey show that Harris enjoys more support amongst black, Latino and young voters than Biden did before she replaced him because the de facto Democratic candidate.
On Tuesday a brand new Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll of the important thing swing states found that Harris had effectively closed Trump's lead within the seven contested states that may likely determine which candidate wins the Electoral College.
The Trump campaign team has tried to benefit from Harris' absence from the convention stage.
In a press release Monday night announcing his appearance at NABJ, the campaign claimed he had “accomplished more for African Americans than any other president in recent history.”
In a Truth Social Post on Wednesday morning, Trump claims without evidence that Harris had “disrespectfully refused to attend” the conference.
He angrily claimed in Another contribution in a while Wednesday that Harris would attend the NABJ event virtually, despite being told that option was “not allowed or acceptable!”
“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” Trump wrote.
Before Trump's appearance, the Harris team released an announcement predicting that the Republican would “lie about his record and the real harm he has done to black communities.”
“Black voters recognize Donald Trump’s lies and empty pandering for what they are – and they will hold him accountable for them at the ballot box in November,” Jasmine Harris, the campaign’s black media director, said in that statement.
The decision of the NABJ, the country's largest association of journalists of color, to host Trump quickly sparked outrage inside and out of doors the group.
Co-Chairman of the Convention Karen Attiah resigned from her post on the eve of the event and wrote in a Social media post“I wish the journalists who interview Trump good luck.”
“While my decision was influenced by a number of factors, I was in no way involved or consulted in the decision to provide a platform for Trump in such a format,” wrote Attiah, a columnist for The Washington Post.
NABJ President Ken Lemonsaid in an announcement Wednesday morning that he consulted with a gaggle of NABJ founders and former leaders this week in regards to the decision to ask Trump to the event.
The group “confirmed that the invitation to former President Trump was consistent with NABJ's standard practices since 1976,” Lemon said.
Although Biden had planned to attend the event when he was a candidate, an individual conversant in Harris' plans told NBC News on Tuesday that the vice chairman wouldn’t give you the option to suit an appearance on the convention into her schedule this week.
Harris' overlapping plans include Attendance on the funeral the late Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, and the continued strategy of choosing a vice chairman.
The one that spoke to NBC said NABJ declined a request from Harris' team to have the vice chairman appear for a virtual fireside chat or to schedule an in-person event with the group at a later date.
But Lemon said in his statement Wednesday that the Harris campaign team had informed his group that they might not give you the option to look in person or virtually throughout the convention.
“We are in discussions about virtual options in the future and continue to work toward an agreement,” Lemon said.
After Lemon made his statement, April Ryan, White House correspondent for theGrio, said it was the NABJ that “ended the discussion in favor of a virtual town hall meeting.”
“It was only after reports of the events were published that NABJ leadership began feverishly asking @VP to now consider a virtual town hall meeting,” Ryan wrote on X, citing sources conversant in the situation.
“The NABJ leadership has even asked for a replacement for the vice president, like Megan the Stallion, Oprah or Barack Obama,” wrote Ryan, the pinnacle of the NABJ 2017 Journalist of the 12 months.
A spokeswoman for NABJ didn’t immediately reply to CNBC's query about Ryan and NBC's reporting.
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