During President Donald Trump's press conference on Thursday, reporter April Ryan of American Urban Radio asked Trump if he planned on getting a hold of the Congressional Black Cauchus to help plan his inner-city agenda.
“I would,” Trump replied. “I’ll tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?”
“No no no no, I’m just a reporter,” Ryan replied, not expecting Trump's response.
Later on, Ryan appeared on CNN's Out Front Tonight with Erin Burnett to talk about what had happened. During her appearance, she announced that the White House has indeed reached out to the CBC, and are not attempting to set a time for a meeting.
Trump stated during the conference that he had in the past attempted to set up a meeting with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) but that Cummings had apparently begged off. Trump stated that Cummings had told him "it might be bad for me politically. I can't have that meeting."
Cummings wholly denies this, saying in a statement "I have no idea why President Trump would make up a story about me like he did today."
"I was actually looking forward to meeting with the president about the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs," he said. "I also sincerely have no idea why the president made this claim in response to an unrelated question about the Congressional Black Caucus. I am sure members of the CBC can answer these questions for themselves."
Trump addressed political division during this press conference, with the subject of inner-cities being a major source of contention between the parties, and saying that this was something he planned on fixing.
