Kwame Jackson hits back at Trump after N-Word allegation

Lina PortmanJune 2, 2024

1 3 minutes read

Top line

Kwame Jackson, a 2004 runner-up on former President Donald Trump's “The Apprentice,” said he's “never seen Trump feel comfortable around black people” in his first public interview after a producer on the show has released an explosive report alleging that Trump called Jackson the n-word on set.

Kwame Jackson, the entrepreneur who finished second on the 2004 season of “The Apprentice,” said he … (+) I never heard former President Donald Trump call it a word to his face.

Associated Press

Highlights

Speaking to CNN's Abby Phillip on Friday night, Jackson said Trump never used the n-word to his face, although he described a “stiff interaction” he had with Trump on “The Apprentice.” , where Jackson claimed that Trump “couldn’t understand (him). ) out.”

When asked by Phillip if he thought Trump would choose a black person as his running mate, Jackson said he “never saw Mr. Trump feel comfortable around black people,” speculating that Trump “might be comfortable with a certain group of black people.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung denied the allegation that Trump used the racial slur as a “completely fabricated and insane story that was already peddled in 2016.”

Jackson told CNN that he thought Trump “still had appeal to black male voters in very, very small percentages,” in response to a question about whether Trump might identify more with black people in as a convicted felon, with Jackson suggesting Trump had a “fake swagger” that may appeal to black voters.

Jackson also appeared on Roland Martin's “Unfiltered” show Friday, once again saying he “never personally heard” Trump say the word, although he did not dismiss the possibility that Trump used that word behind his back.

In that interview, Jackson called Bill Pruit — the producer who made the new allegation public in a Slate report Thursday — a “stand-up guy” but lamented waiting 20 years to make the accusation (Pruitt said 'he had manifested himself). 20 years later, after a non-disclosure agreement expired).

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Tangent

Jackson also speculated on CNN that if footage of the incident was made public, it would “make a difference to voters who are still on the margins, undecided”, although he doubted the alleged use of the n-word by Trump, even if it was proven on tape. , would make a difference to Trump's base voters, saying “the base is the base.”

Key context

Pruitt first alluded to the existence of these tapes before the 2016 presidential election, after the release of a controversial “Access Hollywood” tape showing Trump making lewd comments about women to former host Billy Bush, saying he could “grab them by the p*.” **Yes. Pruitt said at the time that “there are much worse tapes” of Trump that exist in the archives of “The Apprentice,” while former producer Chris Nee claimed to have heard Trump use the n-word in the emission. Allegations that Trump used the n-word on “The Apprentice” resurfaced in 2018, when Omarosa Manigault Newman, a contestant on “Apprentice” with Jackson who served in the Trump administration, claimed in her tell-all book “Unhinged” that she had heard from the images. of Trump using the word in reference to Jackson “multiple times” on set. Trump denied the claim at the time, saying he did not have “that word in (his)

What we don't know

Whether and where footage of the alleged incident exists. Pruitt claimed in his Slate essay that Trump used the word before the 2004 finale of “The Apprentice,” when Jackson — a Goldman Sachs broker — was competing against entrepreneur Bill Rancic to be Trump's choice as winner of the season. That's when Pruitt claims Trump asked his showrunner, “Would America buy a winning word?” (Rancic ended up winning the contest.) Jackson told Martin on Friday that he would be “open to” taking legal action to force the release of the alleged tape.