CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Former President Donald Trump had an often contentious question and answer session with a trio of women at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on Wednesday.
ABC News Correspondent Rachel Scott started things off by asking Trump why Black people would vote for him, given his past dealings with African Americans.
“You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe Black district attorneys,” she said. “You have attacked Black journalists, calling them ‘a loser’ [and] saying the questions that they ask are ‘stupid and racist.’”
The former president told the NABJ crowd that he had never been asked a first question “so horribly.”
“I think it’s a very mean introduction,” he said.
Trump continued: “Are you with ABC? Because I think they are a fake news network, a terrible network, and I think it’s disgraceful … I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.”
Later on in the conversation, Trump falsely suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race.
“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?” he said.
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting her colleagues’ legislation to strengthen voting rights and reforming policing.
Michael Tyler, the communications director for Harris’ campaign, said in a statement that “the hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked his opponents and critics on the basis of race.
The discussion eventually moved to policy issues, during which time Trump repeatedly said immigrants were stealing Black jobs. The former president was then asked to define Black jobs.
“A Black job is anybody that has a job,” he said. “That’s what it is.”
Outside of the convention on Michigan Avenue, a group of mostly anti-Trump protesters made themselves seen and heard outside the Hilton Chicago during Trump’s visit.
Janice Phares held a sign warning of Project 2025 and told WBBM Newsradio that a second Trump administration could make many unwelcome changes.
“Any kind of regulation, so corporations would not be accountable for poisoning … you wouldn’t have any kind of regulatory agencies for that, like the EPA, so there wouldn’t be any kind of monitoring of pollution,” Phares said. “They want to get rid of the Department of Education.”
Another protester present was Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the United States Palestinian Community Network, which was the largest and most vocal group at Wednesday’s demonstration.
He said his group will also be at the Democratic National Convention and said Americans have a lot of issues they want addressed.
“Immigrant rights, police brutality, police accountability, reproductive rights, women’s rights, LGTBQ rights, workers’ rights, all of those issues that will all be addressed at the convention — Palestinians care about … and the rest of the country cares about,” Abudayyeh said.
Chicago police kept protesters across the street from the hotel.
There were no reports of arrests.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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