Insider reveals backstage plot by TV networks to humiliate Trump at infamous black journalist showdown
Faulkner, ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba interviewed Trump during a panel on July 31 in Chicago.
Trump tangled with Scott throughout the interview, which started more than 30 minutes behind schedule, and accused her of asking 'nasty' questions.
Faulkner revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that she witnessed executives plotting how to handle Trump backstage during the delay.
'What I saw backstage were executives from, from some of the, and former executives, from some of the networks and they were working on what they were going to do with Trump, and it did not look positive. And I got to see that firsthand,' Faulkner said.
'If those people wanted to keep it under wraps, they couldn't, and they were shouting. And I remember Rachel Scott was part of that whole, you know, melee of people around, I don't know, it felt like the inner workings of going after Trump.'
The Faulkner Focus host shared that after they finally took the stage, she was bombarded with a new script she had not seen before.
'I thought, "Okay, you know what? I'm probably wrong." We get on that stage. I wasn't wrong. What I saw was real, and suddenly a script that, you know, appeared in a prompter in front of the stage that I did not remember anybody talking about,' she said.
Faulkner said she tried to redirect the conversation and asked Trump about picking JD Vance as his running mate to get him out of 'ambush lane.'
'That's why you saw me ask that question at the NABJ, as I kind of rerouted that conversation that was so unfair and said, "Can we just get back to journalism here? Can we get out of the ambush lane with Trump?"' Faulkner said.
Trump battled with Scott after she asked him a multi-part question that brought up several of his comments attacking African-American journalists and black Fulton County DA Fani Willis.
The ABC journalist said a lot of people didn't think it was appropriate for him to be in Chicago for the interview – pointing to remarks calling a black journalist a 'loser,' tearing into an African American congresswoman, and alluding to his meeting with white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago.
'First of all I don't think I've ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,' Trump told Scott, who asked the lead-off question.
'You don't even say hello how are you?' Trump lectured, calling ABC a 'fake news network.'
'I came here in good spirit. I love the black population of this country,' he said.
'I think it's a very rude introduction. I don't know exactly why you would do something like that,' he said.
Then Trump complained about the faulty equipment for the interview, and blaming the NASB for holding him up for an interview that started more than 30 minutes behind schedule.
'I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln,' Trump said. He called the initial questions 'hostile' and a 'disgrace.'
Trump kept coming back to complaints about the AV equipment, saying the 'mics are really in lousy shape.'
In his quotes on Harris, the presumed Democratic nominee, Trump said Harris 'was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage.'
'I didn't now 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.
'So I don't know, is she Indian or is she black? And you know what I respect either one but she obviously doesn't,' Trump said.
'Because she was Indian all the way and all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a black person. I think somebody should look into that.'
Trump refused to say Harris was not a DEI hire – a statement that some Republican lawmakers have made about the former San Francisco prosecutor and U.S. Senator from California.
'I really don't know. I mean, I really don't know. There are some,' Trump said.
Nearly 30 minutes into the interview, Trump was still complaining about 'being treated so rudely as this woman treated me.'
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