‘That’s such a racist question,’ Trump says to black reporter who asked about racism

President Donald Trump told a black reporter at a news conference that her question about racism and white nationalism was “such a racist question.”

The question came from PBS Newshour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor during Trump’s news conference Wednesday, where he claimed victory in the midterm 2018 elections, which saw the Republican party lose the House of Representatives.

Alcindor was asking for Trump’s reaction to the sentiment that his pre-election anti-immigration comments emboldened racists and white nationalists, when Trump interrupted, as he had done several times throughout the contentious back-and-forth with members of the media.

“That is such a racist question,” Trump told Alcindor. In response to the reporter’s question, Trump said, “I don’t believe it.”

He followed that upby touting his “poll numbers with African Americans.”

Members of the media quickly defended Alcindor and her question.

Alcindor responded to the incident on Twitter, saying that she was “simply asking the questions the public wants to know.” The reporter also worked briefly at the Miami Herald, which is owned by McClatchy, like this publication, while she was a college student.

Earlier in the press conference, Trump called CNN reporter Jim Acosta a “rude, terrible person” in response to Acosta questioning the president’s comments on what Trump calls the “migrant caravan.”

CNN denounced Trump’s comments on Acosta as “disturbingly un-American” in a statement posted to Twitter.

This story was originally published November 7, 2018 at 1:50 PM with the headline "‘That’s such a racist question,’ Trump says to black reporter who asked about racism."