CHICAGO — Former President Donald Trump’s interview on Wednesday on the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists annual conference in Chicago kicked off with a contentious begin as he falsely questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ race.

All through the looks, Trump went on to say his vice presidential decide “doesn’t have any affect” on the election and stated he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted cops “in the event that they’re harmless.”

ABC Information Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox Information anchor Harris Faulkner and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba interviewed Trump on stage on the occasion.

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The primary query got here from ABC’s Scott, who requested about Trump’s previous inflammatory rhetoric towards ladies of colour.

“I wish to begin by addressing the elephant within the room, sir. Lots of people didn’t assume it was acceptable so that you can be right here right this moment,” Scott stated. “You’ve got pushed false claims about a few of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they weren’t born in the USA, which isn’t true. You’ve got advised 4 congressmen, ladies of colour, who have been Americans, to return to the place they got here from. You’ve got used phrases like ‘animal’ and ‘rabbit’ to explain Black district attorneys. You’ve got attacked Black journalists, calling them a ‘loser,’ saying the questions that they ask are, ‘silly and racist.’ You’ve got had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar a Lago resort.”

“So, my query, sir, now that you’re asking Black supporters to vote for you, why ought to Black voters belief you after you’ve used language like that?” Scott requested.

“Properly, to start with, I do not assume I’ve ever been requested a query. So, in such a horrible method, a primary query. You do not even say howdy. Who’re you? Are you with ABC? As a result of I believe they are a faux information community. A horrible community,” Trump started.

When ABC’s Scott adopted up by asking him to reply her query, Trump responded: “I’ve answered the query. I’ve been one of the best president for the Black inhabitants since Abraham Lincoln.”

The previous president went on to mock Harris and when requested about Republican feedback that she is a “DEI” rent, Trump deflected — asking the journalist as a substitute to outline DEI, which she did repeatedly.

Trump additionally appeared to query Harris’ race.

“I did not know she was Black till quite a lot of years in the past when she occurred to show Black and now, she needs to be generally known as Black. So, I do not know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump stated.

Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mom.

“She has all the time recognized as a Black girl,” ABC’s Scott responded. “She went to a traditionally Black school.”

“I respect both one. I respect both one,” Trump stated. “However she clearly does not as a result of she was Indian all the best way, after which unexpectedly she made a flip, and she or he went — she grew to become a Black particular person.”

Harris’ marketing campaign responded after the NABJ interview, saying Trump confirmed “hostility” on the stage that mirrored the “hostility he has proven all through his life, all through his time period in workplace, and all through his marketing campaign for president.”

“At this time’s tirade is just a style of the chaos and division that has been an indicator of Trump’s MAGA rallies this complete marketing campaign,” Harris marketing campaign Communications Director Michael Tyler stated in an announcement.

“One main cause why many individuals did not wish to see him right here right this moment was as a result of he is been so disrespectful to most significantly Black journalists,” stated ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington, who’s attending NABJ. “And proper out of the field, he went after Rachel Scott. That, to me was an emblem of who he’s, and made the case for why we have been NABJ mustn’t have invited him.”

NABJ labored with Politifact to real-time truth test Trump’s feedback.

Trump’s look had stoked some criticism, although others defended the choice to interview the Republican nominee for president.

“I needed to listen to one thing very completely different. I needed to listen to the information. I imply, him saying that he is one of the best president since Abe Lincoln. Properly, why, properly how?” stated Morgan Norris, an attendee and senior at Hampton College.

“You heard the claps and the cheers he was getting within the crowd. He has lots of assist on this neighborhood,” stated Cornel Darden, attendee and writer of the Southland Journal.

Listed here are another key highlights from the interview.

Why he was at NAJB

Trump’s look on the conference got here as he continues to attempt to court docket Black voters. With Harris’ entrance into the 2024 election, Trump faces a stronger problem with lower than 100 days till the November contest.

Requested to make clear his reasoning for attending NABJ, Trump once more tried to assert that migrants are taking “Black jobs” — feedback he has confronted backlash over.

When requested to make clear what a “Black job” is, Trump stated: “A Black job is anyone that has a job. That is what it’s.”

He then resumed his assertion about migrants and tore into Harris for her dealing with of the border. Trump and different Republicans have claimed she is the “border czar” although she was assigned by Biden to handle the foundation causes of migration.

“He’s but to say what that [sic] he means by Black jobs. Any job is what he stated. However it’s a really denigrating time period that African Individuals and many individuals actually needed a solution. That was my primary query, what’s a black job? And he did not reply that query,” stated ABC7 Chicago Political Analyst Laura Washington, who’s attending the convention as a journalist and attended the Trump panel.

On Vance’s previous feedback and VP’s affect

Trump tried to play cleanup on his vice presidential decide Sen. JD Vance’s feedback on “childless cat girls,” reiterating his previous remarks that Vance was merely speaking about his love for household.

“What he is saying is that he thinks the household expertise is an important factor. It is an excellent factor,” Trump stated.

“However that does not imply that should you develop up and also you get older and you do not meet someone — that will be fantastic to fulfill and would have been good — that, that is a foul factor. He isn’t saying that. That may be my interpretation — you may should ask him really, however my interpretation is he is strongly household oriented,” Trump continued.

Pressed additional if he agrees with Vance that folks with kids ought to have extra votes than those that do not, Trump dodged the query, once more saying he believes undocumented immigrants mustn’t have votes though overseas nationals are already prohibited from collaborating in federal elections.

Trump then defended Vance as a profitable particular person, praising him for going to Yale College.

Later requested if he believed Vance can be “prepared on Day 1,” Trump stated he respects Vance however once more stated “I believe that is properly documented traditionally, the vice chairman, when it comes to the election, doesn’t have any affect. No affect.”

On Sonya Massey and police immunity

Trump was additionally requested about Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black girl who was shot and killed in her Illinois house by a police officer, and whether or not that police officer ought to have immunity.

“I do not know the precise case, however I noticed one thing,” Trump stated. “And it did not look, it did not look good to me.”

Nonetheless, he went on to advocate for his marketing campaign path coverage for indemnifying cops.

“If a gaggle of individuals would really feel that someone was being unfairly prosecuted as a result of the particular person did a very good job, possibly with crime, or made a mistake, an harmless mistake, there is a massive distinction between being a foul particular person, and making an harmless mistake, but when someone made an harmless mistake, I’d wish to assist that particular person,” he stated.

Pressed on how these distinctions would work, Trump could not give a selected reply, happening to reward cops for having troublesome jobs.

On age, cognitive skills

Now that Trump is the oldest candidate within the race, the give attention to age has shifted squarely to him.

Requested if he would step down if his well being have been declining, Trump stated he would.

“Completely, if I believed I used to be failing indirectly,” he stated, “I’ll go a step additional, I would like anyone operating for president to take an inherent ability check, to take a cognitive check. I believe it’s a nice thought. And I took two of them and I aced them.”

Trump stated he’d “love” to take a cognitive check and agreed to make it public. He then steered he’d ask Harris to do the identical as he additionally requested Biden.

“To be clear, you do not assume Harris would cross a cognitive check?” ABC’s Scott requested.

Trump went on to drift false claims that Harris didn’t cross her bar examination, when it was simply her first bar examination that she did not cross.

On pardoning Jan. 6 rioters

ABC’s Scott requested Trump: “You’ve got referred to as your self the candidate of regulation and order. When Time journal requested should you would think about pardoning all of the rioters, you stated sure, completely. 100 forty cops have been assaulted that day. Their accidents included damaged bones, at the least one officer misplaced an eye fixed, one had two cracked ribs, two smashed spinal discs, one other had a stroke. Had been the individuals who assaulted these 140 officers, together with these I simply talked about patriots who deserve pardons?”

Trump initially dodged the query, tried to make a connection to the 1000’s of protesters in opposition to the battle in Gaza converging on Washington, D.C., throughout Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s go to final week the place Trump has beforehand claimed that in the event that they have been Republicans, they’d be in jail.

Protesters on July 24, the day of Netanyahu’s tackle to Congress, coated many areas close to Union Station in in depth graffiti and an American flag was burned. Some have been arrested for allegedly assaulting cops, obstructing site visitors or different illegal exercise.

“My query is on these rioters who assaulted these officers — would you pardon these folks?” Scott pressed.

“Completely, I’d, in the event that they’re harmless, I’d pardon them,” Trump stated.

“They have been convicted,” ABC’s Scott pushed again.

ABC7 Chicago political reporter Craig Wall contributed to this report