Trump drops event with black pastors after some object
The press conference to announce an endorsement from a group of African-American pastors is off, but Donald Trump is confident he’ll win them over after a private meeting on Monday.
Suddenly, the meeting is to be a private affair.
Trump’s campaign “thought it was going to be a press conference for an endorsement when it wasn’t”, Scott said Sunday in an interview.
An open letter published in Ebony magazine from more than 100 African-American religious leaders cautioned others to “think of Trump’s rhetoric before meeting with him”.
WYFF News 4’s Corey Davis spoke with Burns after he landed in New York City for the meeting. Mr. Walker, founder of the Love Fellowship Tabernacle church in East New York City, will instead attend the funeral of a deceased youth.
TRUMP: I also heard [it happened in] Patterson.
Leaders such as Bishop Clarence McClendon spoke out angrily after refusing Trump’s invitation.
‘The meeting was presented not as a meeting to endorse but as a meeting to engage in dialogue, ‘ he said in a statement, adding he had not made up his mind who to vote for in the 2016 election. So these are people that saw it too, the Washington Post reported it, many people have seen it. Many people Chuck, I’ll tell you, I have a very good memory, I saw it somewhere on television many years ago and I never saw it and it was on television. “Worldwide the Muslims were absolutely going wild” the real estate mogul said at a campaign rally in Sarasota Florida.
They also expressed concern that Monday’s gathering would “give Trump the appearance of legitimacy among those who follow your leadership and respect your position as clergy”. “I stick by it. Hundreds of people have confirmed it”, Mr. Trump said.
Trump has been courting the support of evangelical black clergy members as he works to broaden his appeal in a crowded Republican field. She did not respond when asked whether the letter directly influenced Trump’s decision to cancel Monday’s press conference.
Pastor Al Morgan of Launch Ministries in Raleigh, North Carolina, said part of the group’s discussion focused on whether Trump should lighten up a bit. Sheila Griffin, a black evangelical pastor based in the Tampa area, said his comments were blown out of proportion by the press.
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For Vaughn, she admitted that her name being included on the list of pastors meeting with Trump resulted in her inbox “blowing up with inquiries” once the endorsement release surfaced. In 2008, the number was 95 percent.
The latest average of several national polls says Trump has about ten times the amount of support among Republicans as Kasich.
“So who cares if it’s an endorsement or a meeting?”
Trump has ignited a number of racial controversies on the campaign trail, such as when he suggested a Black Lives Matter heckler “should have been roughed up”.