Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson praised former President Trump for attending the “hostile” National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago.
“I commend my friend @realdonaldtrump for braving the hostile environment at @NABJ today and answering the tough questions,” Carson said in a Wednesday X post.
Carson’s comments came shortly after Trump attended an event where he clashed with ABC News reporter Rachel Scott over “nasty questioning.”
“Many people found it inappropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congresswomen of color who are U.S. citizens to go back where they came from. You have described black lawyers with words like ‘animals’ and ‘rabbits.’ You have attacked black journalists, calling them losers and saying their questions are ‘stupid and racist,'” Scott said during a question-and-answer panel that included Semaphore reporter Kadia Goba and Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner.
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Then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson spoke during a pre-recorded address at the Republican National Convention on August 26, 2020, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)
“You dined with white supremacists at the Mar-a-Lago resort. So my question is, why should black voters trust you when you use language like that now that you’re asking black voters to vote for you?” she continued.
Trump was put off by the way the questioning was carried out and responded by saying he had “never been asked a worse question.”
“I don’t even say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ Anybody from ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, they’re a terrible network. I feel ashamed because I came here with good feelings. I love the black people of this country and I’ve done a lot for the black people of this country,” Trump said.
The former president was also asked if he thought Vice President Kamala Harris became the presidential candidate because she is a black woman. Trump sparked controversy by claiming that the Democratic front-runner chose to “be black” several years ago.
Former President Trump clashed with ABC reporter Rachel Scott while attending the NABJ convention on Wednesday. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Trump clashes with ABC News reporter over ‘nasty questions’, slams ‘Fake News Network’ in heated Q&A
“She’s always just been Indian and promoted as being Indian,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago, when she became black. And now she wants to be known as black. So, I don’t know if she’s Indian or black.”
While Trump was present to discuss the event with reporters, Harris was conspicuous by her absence, with the NABJ saying in a statement that it had been difficult to coordinate her attendance with the vice president’s schedule.
“At the time, we were informed by Harris’ campaign that her schedule would not allow for this request, and the last update we received[earlier this week]was that Harris would not be able to attend either in person or virtually during the duration of the convention,” National Democratic Convention Chairman Ken Lemon said in a statement. “We are in discussions about a possible virtual format going forward and are still working to reach an agreement.”
Former President Trump attends the NABJ convention in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Carson also noted that Harris did not attend the event and accused NABJ of acting “at her bidding.”
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“What time will VP Harris arrive in Chicago? That’s right. She didn’t show up because most of the ‘journalists’ in the room were already following her orders,” Carson said.
NABJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
