Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly slammed ABC News’s Rachel Scott and former President Trump for how they handled a panel interview during the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Wednesday.
The tense interview between Scott and Trump sparked controversy after the former president accused her of “disgraceful” questions and questioned Vice President Harris's racial identity. O’Reilly suggested on NewsNation’s “Cuomo” that Scott's and Trump's performances were poor, noting that Scott’s opening comment, in which she cited a range of contentious past comments and actions by the former president, was a “gotcha question.”
“So to ask a question about, why did you do that for Barack Obama? Why did you carry on this conspiracy? That's a legitimate question. But she threw everything in the world at him because she wanted to set a tone and then the insulting part was, well, 'A lot of people don't think you should be here.' Like, that's not how you treat someone, former president in particular, when they come on into your forum,” O’Reilly said on NewsNation.
“So Rachel Scott blew it, Donald Trump blew it and the happiest person in the country tonight is Kamala Harris,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to ABC for comment.
Scott opened the panel by noting that “lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today,” speaking to the former president. She then pointed to his previous comments spreading the birther conspiracy about former President Obama and calling for certain Democratic lawmakers to "go back” to countries they came from, as well as his meeting with a white supremacist at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“Why should Black voters trust you?” Scott asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. A first question. You don’t even say hello, how are you,” Trump said. “Are you with ABC, because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country, I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.”
At one point in the interview, Trump also questioned Harris’s racial identity and falsely claimed that she only promoted her Indian heritage in the past. Harris is both Black and of Indian descent.
O’Reilly said Wednesday that anyone “who injects skin color into any conversation these days in a negative way, is a fool, period.”
“You're foolish. Skin doesn't have anything to do with politics, with the way we live, and who we are as Americans,” he added.
Trump’s remarks sparked immediate backlash following his appearance at the panel, with the Harris campaign condemning his comments. In a statement released after the panel, Trump's campaign criticized some members of the media.
“Today’s biased and rude treatment from certain hostile members of the media will backfire massively,” a campaign adviser said in the statement.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
