A planned meeting of 100 Black evangelical pastors and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has gone from a campaign event to several of the invited pastors denouncing Trump.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Eric Schultz)
Last week the Trump campaign put out a press release that said, “Mr. Trump will be joined by a coalition of 100 African-American evangelical pastors and religious leaders who will endorse the GOP front-runner after a private meeting at Trump Tower.”
Several of the invited pastors, however, took to Twitter to condemn Trump and his views.
On Nov. 27 Bishop Paul S. Morton of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship in Atlanta, Georgia, tweeted, “I was asked 2 meet with Mr. Trump too but I refused because until he learns how to respect people you can’t represent me thru my endorsement.”
Corletta J. Vaughn, pastor at the Holy Ghost Full Gospel Church in Detroit, Michigan, wrote on Facebook that she had been invited to the event but would not attend. “Trump is an insult and embarrassment… But he represents the country we have become. ZERO experience. Flaunting a ticket of unbridled bigotry, sexism, racism and everything that is wrong with America.”
The meeting will still take place, Katrina Pierson, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign told CNN on Nov. 30, however it will be closed to the press.
For his part, Trump on Nov. 30 went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program and said, “”Probably some of the Black Lives Matter folks called them up and said, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t be meeting with Trump because he believes all lives matter.’”
