The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is under fire after former President Donald Trump accepted an invitation for a panel interview moderated by Rachel Scott, Harris Faulkner and Kadia Goba.
It only took a few minutes for Trump to make Goba uncomfortable after “essentially bashing the panel,” Goba said in a CNN interview.
At the beginning of the panel, Rachel Scott, an ABC News reporter, asked Trump why Black voters should trust him after his racist track record of attacking Black journalists and district attorneys, welcoming a white supremacist for dinner at his Mar-a-lago resort, and questioning Nikki Haley and Barack Obama’s nationality.
“Well first of all, I’ve never been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump responded. “You don’t even say ‘Hello’, ‘How are you?’. Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network.”
It was at that moment Goba “sank in her seat” after Trump disrespected the moderators and their legitimacy.
“I was shocked. I didn’t anticipate that because I figured if the former President made the effort to come to Chicago in front of a bunch of journalists, Black journalists, he would anticipate certain questions,” Goba told CNN.
In addition to Trump deflecting questions, he attempted to cast doubt on Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming that she “was always of Indian heritage ... [and] happened to turn Black” and that she failed the bar exam. (Harris said in her autobiography that she failed the exam on her first try.)
Trump has a history of blatantly disrespecting Black journalists, such as calling reporter April Ryan a “loser.” He has also repeatedly labeled press as “the enemy of the people,” and accused news outlets of spreading “fake news ” for criticizing him or pointing out his lies.
Trump was supposed to be present for an hour at the NABJ panel, but only stayed for 35 minutes before leaving. According to reports by Huffington Post and New York Times, he also threatened to abandon the panel unless the NABJ agreed to cut the live fact-checking.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was attending the funeral of U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson on Thursday, but NABJ announced that it’s in talks with her camp to schedule a sit-down interview between now and November. They released a statement regarding Trump’s appearance.
“We all remember what those four years were like and today, we were given a reminder,” Harris said at a campaign event in Houston.