Harris Faulkner: Much of NABJ audience ‘was enjoying’ Trump interview

Fox News’s Harris Faulkner said much of the audience enjoyed former President Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention Wednesday, despite what she described as “a little bit of contention on the dais.”

Faulkner — who co-moderated the event with ABC News’s Rachel Scott and Semafor’s Kadia Goba — joined Fox News’s Martha MacCallum after the interview to describe the dynamic from inside the room, where Trump’s combative tone at times evoked a negative and animated response from the audience.

Asked for her “behind-the-scenes” take on some of the heated moments, Faulkner first noted some of the backlash ahead of the interview from NABJ members who disagreed that the association should hold an interview with Trump. Faulkner said she was glad to see attendees were mostly pleased that Trump accepted.

“What the nation has seen is this incredible buildup with journalists here reportedly upset because Donald Trump was coming — some of them. And some of them we really hadn’t heard from,” Faulkner said, referring to journalists at the convention. “So what I loved about what you couldn’t see today was how much of that audience was enjoying the moment of hearing from a candidate that they might not always agree with.”

“So for all of that pushback, young journalists that I’m talking to after the event are saying, ‘Well, we’re glad he’s here,’” Faulkner added.

Faulkner later acknowledged that “it did get a little chippy” when the former president sidestepped questions and attributed some of the contention to technical problems that Faulkner said made it difficult for those on stage to hear each other.

“In terms of the former president answering questions, Martha, you and I have both interviewed him. It’s, it’s an interesting journey that you go on, but you’ve got to keep pressing,” Faulkner told MacCallum.

“And there was a little bit of contention on the dais about whether or not he could hear, and when he could hear, would he answer the question,” she continued, referring to Trump.

Faulkner noted the animated responses from the audience, appearing to pick her words carefully as she slowed her speech in describing what she saw.

“In terms of the audience shouting back and having some reaction to him, it was, it was chippy at times,” Faulkner said. “But for the most part, they were laughing, and they were getting kind of, kind of what they, they didn’t have before this, and that was a conduit to a man that they see a lot on TV, but don’t know a lot about his policies.”

Trump’s performance during his NABJ interview was broadly panned by Democrats, as Trump fought back against tough questions about his record, berated a Black moderator on the panel for using a “hostile” and “nasty” tone, and questioned the heritage of his likely Democratic opponent, Vice President Harris.

“She was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said of Harris. “So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?” 

“She has always identified as a Black woman,” Scott interjected.

“But you know what, I respect either one,” Trump said. “But she obviously doesn’t. Because she was Indian all the way then all of a sudden she made a turn. And she became a Black person. And I think somebody should look into that.”

Harris is Indian American and African American. Her mother emigrated from India, and her father emigrated from Jamaica. She also attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., where she was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.