February 16, 2017

Trump Asks African-American Reporter to Arrange Meeting with Congressional Black Caucus

“Are they friends of yours? Set up the meeting!”


During a chaotic and rambling press conference on Thursday, April Ryan, an African-American journalist with the American Urban Radio Networks, asked President Donald Trump if he would be arranging a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss actions he might be taking to help inner cities.

“Well I would,” Trump said. “Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours? Set up the meeting!”

The bizarre exchange follows Trump’s repeated claims that he is the “least racist person” people would ever meet.

Following the press conference, Ryan appeared on MSNBC to discuss Trump’s comments. “I’m not a facilitator, I’m not a convener,” she said. “I am a White House correspondent. I am a reporter—a journalist.”

She did go on to note that many of the CBC members she covers were eager to meet with Trump about the administration’s policy agenda. Indeed, shortly after the press conference concluded, the CBC tweeted the following:

Ryan said on MSNBC that she would be happy to cover such a meeting between Trump and the CBC as a reporter. But she added: “I will not convene, facilitate, nothing.”

Watch:

This story has been updated with April Ryan’s MSNBC comments.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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