Trump’s conversation with Black Journalists Conference prompts co-chair to resign | Real Time Headlines

Annual Meeting Co-Chair national association of black journalists The convention pulled out on Tuesday in apparent reaction to the organization’s decision to appoint the former president Donald Trump Speak at its conferences and job fairs chicago Wednesday, among other factors.

NABJ24 conference co-chair: ‘I wish the reporters the best of luck covering Trump’ Karen Atiyah She announced her decision to resign in a social media post. “For everyone else, I look forward to meeting and reconnecting with all of you in the Windy City.”

“While my decision was influenced by many factors, I was not involved in or consulted in any way regarding the decision to stand for Trump in this form,” wrote Atiyah, a Washington Post columnist who writes about international Articles on affairs, culture and human rights issues.

NABJ announced Monday that Republican presidential candidate Trump will “participate in a conversation with reporters” in front of attendees at the convention, sparking controversy among some members of the organization.

The group said the event with Trump will be hosted by ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Faulkner Focus anchor and “Outnumbered” co-host, Fox News’ Harris Faulkner and Semafor Hosted by political journalist Kadia Goba.

Attiyah’s announcement on Tuesday came hours after a source familiar with Vice President Kamala Harris’ plans said the de facto Democratic presidential nominee would not attend the National Democratic Party convention because of Conflicts with her schedule.

According to people who spoke to NBC News, the NABJ team declined a request from Harris’ team to hold a virtual “fireside chat” at the convention.

Harris’ father is black and his mother was born in India. If elected president, she would be the first woman and first South Asian elected president.

Founded in 1975, NABJ is the largest association of journalists of color in the United States. Over the years, it has hosted speakers including then-Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

CNBC has asked Atiyah, NABJ and a Trump presidential campaign spokesperson for comment on Atiyah’s resignation as convention co-chair.

NABJ President Ken Lemon said in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday that his organization’s invitation to Trump was “definitely not an endorsement of the Republican nominee.”

“Every year, every presidential election, we invite presidential candidates to come,” Lemon said. “We invited both of them, we got a ‘yes’ from one of them and we would love to get a ‘yes’ from Kamala.”

“This is our opportunity to vet the candidates where we stand,” Lemon said.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Washington reporter Tia Mitchell responded to the controversy surrounding Trump’s appearance in a post on X, saying she helped arrange the event as a chairperson of the NABJ Political Working Group.

“I helped make this decision. It is consistent with the invitation NABJ has extended to every presidential candidate for decades,” Mitchell wrote. In that X post. “But please keep reporting. I will continue to work hard to create opportunities for reporters to interview the potential next president.”

Mitchell’s posts are only visible to users to whom she has given access.

April Ryan, The Grio’s White House correspondent and NABJ’s 2017 Journalist of the Year, blasted the invitation to Trump.

“Reports that the then-President of the United States attacked a black female White House reporter are not myths or conjecture, they are facts,” Ryan wrote on X on Tuesday.

“Having a staged meeting with a former president is an affront to what the organization stands for and a slap in the face to the Black female journalists (NABJ Journalists of the Year) who must protect themselves from the wrath of this Republican president. The push is underway The nominee of a dictatorial agenda who plans to destroy this country and its democracy through his Plan 2025.

Trump has been criticized for racist comments during his presidency haiti and african countries Called it “a country of assholes” when meeting with senators at the White House in 2018.

trump nephew Fred Trump III In his newly released memoir, Trump uses the “n” word twice after discovering his convertible had been slashed while parked. The Trump campaign said Fred Trump’s claims were “completely fake news of the highest order.”

Donald Trump and his father Fred Trump indicted by US Department of Justice Ministry of Justice In 1973, black potential tenants were allegedly discriminated against in a New York housing complex on the basis of race.

Donald Trump noted that he and his father settled the case two years later “not guilty.”

Attiah was named the 2019 NABJ Journalist of the Year.

In the same year, she received George Polk Special Awardone of the most prestigious awards in American journalism, shared with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius for an article about the murders Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi November 2018, Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Attiah, whose parents are from African countries ghana and nigeriarecruited Khashoggi to the Washington Post and hired him.

Trump, who was president when Khashoggi was killed, has rejected the investigative agency’s conclusions. CIA The killing was allegedly carried out on the orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In March 2020, while Trump was still in the White House, the State Department blamed the murder on Saudi Arabian government agents.