PHILADELPHIA — Vice President Kamala Harris will take questions from three members of the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, six weeks after former President Donald Trump questioned her ethnicity and clashed with a journalist at the organization’s national convention in Chicago.
Harris declined an invitation from NABJ to attend the August convention because it conflicted with the funeral of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
On Tuesday at WHYY, a public radio station in downtown Philadelphia, Harris will field questions from Tonya Mosley, co-host of NPR’s “Fresh Air” and host of the “Truth Be Told” podcast; Gerren Keith Gaynor, White House correspondent and managing editor of politics at TheGrio; and Eugene Daniels, Playbook co-author and White House correspondent for Politico.
NABJ said PolitiFact will perform fact-checks in real time, which will also be shared using the hashtag #NABJFactCheck on social media and through a live feed on the NABJ website.
The event will be livestreamed on NABJ’s YouTube and Facebook pages. But it is not an official campaign event, and it is open only to select NABJ members and 100 students from historically Black colleges and universities.
Harris’ appearance has prompted far less controversy than Trump’s. Some members of NABJ criticized it for inviting Trump despite the incendiary comments he has made about Black people and other ethnic groups over the years.
He attacked ABC News reporter Rachel Scott during the Aug. 1 event, calling her first question — which noted several hostile things he has said about Black people and women — “nasty.”
He later claimed he was the best president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln and questioned Harris’ heritage.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said, drawing gasps. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Harris is expected to face tough questions about her record as attorney general of California and her vice presidency and on specific details about what her administration would do to benefit Black people.
“NABJ does not endorse political candidates as a journalism organization,” NABJ President Ken Lemon said in a statement last week. “Just as we demonstrated during our convention interview with former President Trump, this event will not be a campaign rally but will be handled with respect to journalistic principles. The interview with Vice President Harris is designed to inform the public and give our members access to help inform their reporting. It is our hope that this event will also help provide real-time training for our emerging storytellers. We are thrilled we were able to work with the Harris team to deliver an in-person interview as we did with her opponent.”
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