Blowback.....

Trump set to speak NABJ amid blowback from some members

From CNN's Aaron Pellish

Former President Donald Trump will address members of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago on Wednesday, a move that has drawn blowback from some members frustrated over his appearance after his previous attacks on Black journalists.

Trump will appear on a panel at the conference alongside ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News host Harris Faulkner and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba, during which he is expected to answer questions from each of the reporters. Trump’s appearance extends the tradition of commanders in chief attending the conference after George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama appeared previously, according to NABJ.

But Trump’s appearance has drawn rebukes from some high-profile NABJ members. Karen Attiah, a columnist at The Washington Post who worked as co-chair of this year’s conference, said yesterday that she would resign from her role due to a “variety of factors,” including Trump’s appearance.

“To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck,” Attiah wrote on social media.

April Ryan, the White House correspondent for The Grio who clashed with Trump and his officials while covering his administration, called Trump’s appearance “a slap in the face” to Black female journalists.

“The reports of attacks on Black women White House correspondents by the then president of the United States are not myth or conjecture, but fact,” Ryan said on social media following the announcement. “To have a presumed orchestrated session with the former president is an affront to what this organization stands for and a slap in the face to the Black women journalists … who had to protect themselves from the wrath of this Republican presidential nominee who is promoting an authoritarian agenda.”

Trump’s appearance further highlights the absence of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black vice president who was elevated to being the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race earlier this month. NABJ initially said in a statement that it had reached out to the Harris campaign about her appearing but that her schedule “could not accommodate” either an in-person or virtual appearance this week.  

On Wednesday, NABJ said it was in talks with the Harris campaign about scheduling the vice president for a possible in-person or virtual appearance in September.