Donald Trump Refused to Accept NABJ Interview Invite Unless They Assured No Live Fact-Checking Would Occur

Former President Donald Trump created a stir behind the scenes by refusing to take the stage for an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention in Chicago unless it was promised that he would not be fact-checked live during the event.

NABJ President Ken Lemon revealed that Trump's team insisted on proceeding with the interview without real-time fact-checking, threatening to not participate if their demands were not met.

Due to this dispute, the scheduled Q&A session featuring prominent Black journalists, such as ABC News' Rachel Scott and Fox News' Harris Faulkner, was delayed by over an hour.

Trump later shifted the blame, attributing the delay to technical and audio issues during the interview. Lemon contradicted the former president's explanation, stating the technical problems were promptly resolved. He emphasized, "The bigger problem was his threat not to take the stage."

The incident has ignited discussions within the NABJ regarding the decision to invite Trump.

While some members criticized the situation as "embarrassing," others commended the journalists for their rigorous questioning of the former president.

As OK! previously reported, Scott got into a heated back and forth with the former president as soon as the interview began when she pointed out his many criticisms of prominent voices in the Black community.

"You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true," Scott said. "You have told four congresswomen of color, who were American citizens, to go back to where they came from."

"You have used words like animal and rabbit to describe Black district attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions that they asked are, quote, ‘stupid and racist,’" she continued. "You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So my question, sir, now that you were asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?”

Furious at the framing of the question out of the gate, Trump replied, "Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked the question so, in such a horrible manner, a first question. You don’t even say, ‘Hello, how are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. And I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit."

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During his appearance at the NABJ, he went on to call himself the "best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln" and claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris only recently "became Black" despite the fact that she was born to a Black father.