Donald Trump reportedly refused to go onstage at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention if reporters fact-checked him, but he finally gave in following a lengthy delay.
The former president blamed the delay of more than an hour on audio problems, but NABJ president Ken Lemon told Axios that Trump's team asked organizers if the panel of Black journalists, including ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba, would refrain from correcting his false statements.
"[Trump's team] said, 'Well, can you not fact check? He's not going to take the stage if you fact-check,'" Lemon said.
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Lemon confirmed there had been some audio problems that were "resolved very quickly," but he said Trump's holdout grew so lengthy NABJ leaders were prepared to explain to the audience of nearly 2,000 people that the Republican nominee would not appear, after all.
"I was prepared to go on stage to craft a statement, saying he decided not to go on stage because of fact-checking," Lemon said. "We couldn't compromise on that."
Trump eventually gave in and took the stage as Lemon was drafting a statement, and he said the ex-president's team asked NABJ not to post the fact-checks on social media or allow the moderator to disclose there would be fact checking.
"Our whole team stood our ground," Lemon said.
The New York Times previously reported that Trump's team made a last-minute demand about live fact-checking during the event, which his campaign called "straight up fake news."
Trump immediately struck a hostile tone with the panelists after he eventually took the stage, where he questioned vice president Kamala Harris' racial background and quarreled with the reporters, and his team pulled him from the event after a little more than a half hour of questions.
