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In India’s Assam, ‘hopes dashed’ for high returns on oil palm production

In India’s Assam, ‘hopes dashed’ for high returns on oil palm production

Jorhat, India: Priya Ram Duwarah has planted 60 oil palm seedlings in his half-hectare (1.2 acres) of agricultural land at Mohara village in Jorhat district in the northeast Indian state of Assam. The 65-year-old farmer, who typically grows paddy and seasonal vegetables, stepped into oil palm planting last September after being assured of high returns by the officials of the state agriculture department. While it takes the plants four years to bear fruits, he says that the wait is worth the time. Reason: the promise of higher returns. Duwarah told Al Jazeera that cultivating paddy earns him approximately 40,000 rupees ($478) a year, a sum that is “too paltry” in the wake of the rising inflation. “The government officials assured me of doubling my income,” since the region has climatic conditions favourable to oil palm and Duwarah decided to venture into the business, he told Al Jazeera, sounding enthusiastic about his new crop. He is one of about 1,200 farmers in Assam who have taken up oil palm farming with the dream of enhancing their income. Huge demand for edible oils In 2014, the newly elected Narendra Modi government set up the National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) with the goal of making India self-reliant in edible oils. In 2021, its name was changed to National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm and the government announced an investment of 110.4 billion rupees ($1.32bn). India is the largest importer of edible oils in the world. In the twelve months from November 2022 to October 2023, it imported 16.47 million tonnes of edible oil, including 10 million tonnes of oil palm. That was up from the previous year’s imports of 14.19 million tonnes and 8 million tonnes, respectively. Palm oil is used in a range of packaged foods, as well as soaps, cosmetics, ice cream, and other products. It takes four years for oil palm trees to bear fruits, pictured, and farmers are trying to undertake inter-cropping in the interim to have any produce to sell in the interim [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera] While oil palm cultivation was already going on in some southern Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Karnataka, the Modi government decided to expand production to the country’s northeastern region including Assam. Assam had initially allocated about 1,000 hectares (2,741 acres) of agricultural land for oil palm cultivation. But with its immense potential, the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research in 2014 identified a total area of 375,428 hectares (927,703 acres) fit for farming. However, despite the obvious demand for palm oil and a decade of efforts, things have not gone as planned in Assam. One of the main problems is that there are still no processing facilities in place in the state and the fruit is processed in the nearby states of Mizoram and Andhra Pradesh. The delays in that process and the resultant losses have turned off farmers who were the early adopters of the practice. ‘Hopes dashed’ Josmi Rabha, 54, a farmer in Dariduri village in Goalpara district is one of them. She planted 65 oil palm seedlings over about one hectare (2.5 acres) of her farm in 2016 with the promise of high returns. “I spent around [100,000 rupees] ($1,200) to set up a fence to keep animals out and also installed a pump for groundwater irrigation,” even as that ran up her water bill, Josmi told Al Jazeera. “The plants started to bear fruits in 2021. We were expecting high returns. But all our hopes were dashed after we didn’t find any market to sell them as nobody came to buy from us,” Josmi said. The fruit begins to rot if not processed within three days and middlemen aware of that dilemma offered them low rates, she recalled. “The absence of an oil processing plant in Assam has virtually killed our business,” she said, adding that now she is having problems arranging funds to remove the plants from her land. Josmi Rabha says the lack of processing facilities in Assam has killed her business [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera] Rabha’s son Debajyoti Rabha, 34, a teacher in a local school, also got into the business to supplement his family’s income, but the result has devastated him. “Oil palm is a water-guzzling crop and has killed all other crops,” which he had intercropped with the oil palm based on the suggestion of government officials, Debyajyoti said. “We are planning to clear the palm oil crop from our fields, but the branches and stems are sturdy and we will have to hire extra manpower to do that. This has been a loss-making affair for us,” he added. While once 70 farmers in the village had signed up to the idea of cultivating oil palm, now only 10 remain as everyone else has given up on it, he said. Pratul Chandra Rabha, 40, another farmer in the same village also blamed the poor prices they were offered for the farmers losing interest in cultivating it. There is no minimum support price (MSP) from the government and middlemen have offered them six rupees ($0.072) per kg for fruit, much lower than the asking price of 15-16 rupees ($0.19) per kg. “Each tree bears 15-20kg [33-35 pounds] of fruit in a gap of 20 days, but where are the buyers? I am not serious about palm cultivation any more and have almost left it,” Rabha told Al Jazeera. Dipak Kumar Pathak, the assistant director of the agriculture department in Goalpara conceded the decline in farmer participation and the plantation area which had halved to 700 – 800 hectares (1,730 – 1977 acres) from 1,511 hectares (3,734 acres) in 2014. “The lack of proper transportation of crops to the processing units and involvement of middlemen seems to be the biggest reason behind the set-back”, Pathak said. New players Last August Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma announced that the state government, in partnership with Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Foods Limited (PFL), had initiated a large-scale

Vance brands Harris a ‘coward’; Trump dinged for ‘attacks and insults’ as campaigns war after fiery event

Vance brands Harris a ‘coward’; Trump dinged for ‘attacks and insults’ as campaigns war after fiery event

The Trump and Harris campaigns mixed it up on X on Wednesday afternoon after the former president’s heated appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference in Chicago, and the Republican vice presidential nominee blasted Vice President Harris as a “coward.” “Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency, while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Harris campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said in a statement after the event. “Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign,” Tyler continued. “It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.” Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, fired back, saying the former president “walked right into the NABJ conference and showed he had the courage to take tough questions, while Kamala Harris continues to hide from any scrutiny or unfriendly media like the coward she is.” 1 OF THESE 5 DEMOCRATS COULD BE HARRIS’ RUNNING MATE During the event, Trump clashed with ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, accusing her of asking a “nasty question” and referring to the Disney-owned network as “fake news.” Trump participated in a Q&A with Scott, Semafor reporter Kadia Goba and Fox News Channel anchor Harris Faulkner. The event caused ripples before it began because many Black journalists objected to Trump even being invited in the first place. Once it began, Scott kicked things off by “addressing the elephant in the room.” “A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today,” Scott said. “You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congresswomen of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from.  “You have used words like animal and rabid to describe Black district attorneys. You attack Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions that they ask are, quote, stupid and racist. You’ve had dinner with a White supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So, my question, sir, now that you are asking black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?” TRUMP CLASHES WITH ABC NEWS REPORTER OVER ‘NASTY QUESTION,’ BLASTS ‘FAKE NEWS NETWORK’ DURING HEATED Q&A Trump shot back at Scott, saying he’s “never been asked a question in such a horrible manner.” “I love the Black population of this country,” Trump said. “I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country, including employment, including opportunity zones, with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for Black workers and Black entrepreneurs. I’ve done so much, you know. And I say this, historically Black colleges and universities were out of money.” “And let me go a step further,” Trump added. “I was invited here, and I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala. I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here. You invited me on under false pretense. “And then you were half an hour late, just so we understand. I have too much respect for you to be late. They couldn’t get their equipment working or something.” 2024 AD WARS: TRUMP, HARRIS RACE TO DEFINE VICE PRESIDENT “Mr. President, I would love if you could answer the question,” Scott said, again asking why Black voters should trust him for another term.  “I think it’s a very nasty question,” Trump shot back. “I have answered the question. I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.” Former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton attended NABJ conventions in the past, either as presidents or presidential candidates. Trump posted on Truth Social following the NABJ event, saying of Scott, “The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!” Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

Paris Olympics 2024: Homeboy Marchand, legendary Ledecky bag swimming gold

Paris Olympics 2024: Homeboy Marchand, legendary Ledecky bag swimming gold

Katie Ledecky blitzed the field to retain her 1,500 metres freestyle title at the Paris Olympics, the American iron woman securing a record-equalling eighth gold medal in the sport. World record holder Ledecky blew away the field in the gruelling, 30-lap race at La Defense Arena, touching the wall in an Olympic record 15.30.02, more than 10 seconds ahead of France’s silver medallist Anastasiia Kirpichnikova. Germany’s Isabel Gose took bronze. Ledecky went out hard and was a body length clear after 100m with her lead growing to five seconds at the halfway mark. She never relented, her advantage continuing to build as she reinforced her reputation as the greatest distance swimmer the sport has seen. The result was never in doubt with the 27-year-old setting the last six world records and now holding the fastest 20 times ever swum. Ledecky now shares the record for most Olympic gold medals in women’s swimming with American Jenny Thompson, who won eight relay titles over three Olympics from 1992-2000. Her collection of Olympic medals now equals the all-time record of 12 in women’s swimming shared by Thompson, Americans Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin, and Australian Emma McKeon. Ledecky will also swim the 800m in Paris, with Australian Ariarne Titmus standing in her way of winning a fourth straight title. Katie Ledecky of the United States celebrates after winning the 1500m freestyle gold medal [Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters] Magical Marchand achieves unprecedented Olympic feat In the final race of day five of the games, home hero Leon Marchand took his third gold medal of the Paris Olympics and an unprecedented second on the same day in the men’s 200-metre butterfly and breaststroke double. The Paris 2024 poster boy took the 200 butterfly title in Olympic record time and, roared on by his fans, beat Hungary’s world record holder and reigning champion Kristof Milak into second place. Canada’s Ilya Kharun took the bronze in a race led by Milak until the final length when he was reeled in by his 22-year-old opponent in a thrilling duel to the wall in a deafening atmosphere with the crowd reaching a crescendo. Marchand’s time of one minute 51.21 seconds was the third-fastest ever in the discipline. The Frenchman, who had the arena rocking when he won the 400 Individual Medley on Sunday bagged his third title later in the 200 breaststroke final in a jaw-dropping attempt. No Olympic swimmer – not even US great Michael Phelps who had the same coach as the Frenchman – has ever won the two events, but Marchand will start the breaststroke from lane four after qualifying with the fastest time. He made history as no swimmer has won medals in butterfly and breaststroke at the same Olympics. Leon Marchand was backed by a raucous French crowd at the La Defense Arena [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters] Sarah Sjostrom defies age for 100m gold Earlier in the day, Evergreen Swede Sarah Sjostrom proved the adage that form is temporary and class is permanent as she upset a top-quality field to claim the women’s 100-metre freestyle gold. Sjostrom only committed to racing the 100m weeks before the games but showed she still has what it takes as she swept to her second gold medal at the age of 30, eight years after winning the 100m butterfly at the Rio Olympics. Sjostrom had plenty of ground to make up at the turn but put in a sizzling final 50 metres, sweeping down lane seven to touch the wall in 52.16 seconds at La Defense Arena, 0.13 seconds ahead of American silver medallist Torri Huske. Siobhan Haughey took bronze for Hong Kong. Though regarded as one of the greatest swimmers of the modern era, her one Olympic gold prior to Paris seemed a disappointing return for a swimmer of her standing. Now the Swede has the 100m gold to match her world record and more success may follow in the 50m freestyle. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden reacts after winning the race [Reuters] Pan bags China’s first pool gold In the last swimming finals of the night, China’s Pan Zhanle smashed the world record as he stormed to victory in the men’s 100m freestyle. Pan powered to the finish in 46.40 seconds, beating the world record time of 46.80 he had set in February in Doha. Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, gold medal winner at the 2016 Rio Games, finished 1.08 seconds behind to take silver with Romania’s David Popovici claiming bronze. China’s Pan Zhanle celebrates after winning the men’s 100-metre freestyle final [Petr David Josek/AP Photo] Adblock test (Why?)

Israeli air strike kills Al Jazeera correspondent, cameraman

Israeli air strike kills Al Jazeera correspondent, cameraman

NewsFeed An Israeli air strike killed Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi while they were reporting from northern Gaza. Al Jazeera Media Network has called their killings a “cold-blooded assassination.” Published On 31 Jul 202431 Jul 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

Republican PAC WinRed misleads US consumers into recurring donations

Republican PAC WinRed misleads US consumers into recurring donations

James Frank Clark is a lifelong Republican who lives in Texas. He spends his time between his home in a suburb northwest of Houston and a small town called Kerrville, northwest of San Antonio. He lives in fairly conservative areas so it’s no surprise that his candidates of choice are Republicans. That’s why he signed up to donate to GOP candidates through WinRed — an overarching political action committee (PAC) that donates to Republican candidates across the United States. As far as he knew, he made a handful of small donations here and there. But that’s not what ended up happening. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show Clark made thousands of donations including as recently as in June 2024. According to his grandson Colin, who shared the data with Al Jazeera, these were made without his grandfather’s knowledge. “They [WinRed] would come in and take $20 here and there but then they would run that transaction somewhere between 50 and 200 times,” Clark told Al Jazeera. WinRed is allegedly overcharging and prompting recurring donations from donors like Clark without their knowledge, a problem that overwhelmingly impacts elderly voters like him. This is an old problem with WinRed, one of the largest Republican PACs in the US. Set up in 2019, it has been under the lens of attorneys general across four US states since 2021 for overcharging consumers and deceiving them into donating more than they thought by using deceptive marketing practices. According to records obtained by Al Jazeera, the deceptive practices have continued in the lead-up to the US presidential elections in November. Endorsed by the Republican National Committee, WinRed has become the most prominent tool for Republican Party fundraising efforts. It is one of two major PACs – ActBlue being the other one, for the Democratic Party – raising money for ballot races for their respective political sides. Both bombard donors with over-the-top emails and text messages from candidates and their surrogates. Both WinRed and ActBlue raise money for their respective parties, which they then distribute to various candidates. In Clark’s case, WinRed put his donations towards committees ranging from those supporting Ted Cruz for the US Senate and Donald Trump for president. Clark was charged almost $90,000 across six different credit cards – three of which had charges well over $20,000 as recently as the end of June, as per Clark’s credit card statements, communications with WinRed, and FEC records obtained by Al Jazeera. Clark showed Al Jazeera he had not logged into a WinRed account since 2022, which Al Jazeera has independently verified. Even though Clark alleges that misleading texts over the years led to this, WinRed refunded donations only from the last 60 days, which came out to a little more than $59,000, leaving Clark drained and furious. “I don’t have the energy to go through whatever I have to go through to get it [a full refund] done. If it’s anywhere close to having to deal with more of this bureaucracy, I’ll just tell them to kiss my ass,” he said. Clark is far from alone. There are communities online that outline comparable situations including on platforms like Trustpilot and  Pissed Consumer. There are also Reddit threads dedicated to this problem. Al Jazeera reached out to dozens of impacted consumers. While there was hesitation amongst many Republicans to speak to representatives of what they described as the “liberal media”, this reporter managed to confirm the validity of some claims by cross-verifying them with FEC filings. In one case in Arizona, an elderly man was charged upwards of $700 a week for at least a year – and it wasn’t until his wife took over his finances that she discovered the incessant charges. There was a similar situation in Indiana of a retiree living on a fixed income. Out of respect for their privacy, Al Jazeera has opted not to disclose their identities. Dark patterns Other sources Al Jazeera spoke to have struggled to even opt out of texts, including Kurren Kidd, a potential donor living in Bonita, California. “Every single text link goes to WinRed, has the option to ‘repeat your donation’ automatically selected, and uses shady tactics and lies to trick you into clicking on the link. Let’s just say I’m very upset with WinRed. In my view, they are deceitful money-grabbing liars,” Kidd told Al Jazeera. Kidd added that he gets texts from different phone numbers every day from WinRed and has been unable to opt out. This practice is known as dark patterns — meaning deceptive language that can make it challenging to understand what a person might be signing up for — within a given website. “Often [dark patterns] are used to get people to tie them into subscriptions that they didn’t intend to sign up for, but these donations operate in the same way,” Harry Brignull, founder of the Deceptive Patterns Initiative, a programme that raises awareness about deceptive design tactics online, told Al Jazeera. Brignull also alleged that the hoops WinRed put in place so cancellations cannot be done over the phone — like not being able to call a customer service line, as Clark showed in emails shared with Al Jazeera — are a way to trap consumers. “It’s like in nature how there are different kinds of predatory plants to tempt insects in and then keep trapping them basically. Those are carnivorous plants. That same phenomenon is used in business, too,” added Brignull, who also coined the term “dark patterns”. Al Jazeera reached out to the attorney general (AG) offices in the four states investigating WinRed’s deceptive practices. Connecticut’s AG office declined to comment. Minnesota’s office, while they declined to comment on specifics, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the office is still actively investigating WinRed. The other two offices — New York and Maryland — did not respond. Even prior to the 2020 presidential election, the PAC faced a class-action lawsuit for deceptive practices. The suit alleged that the PAC sent automated text messages without

Illegal immigrant crimes in swing state highlighted as grandmother killed in carjacking

Illegal immigrant crimes in swing state highlighted as grandmother killed in carjacking

The state of Virginia has been hit by another violent crime, allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, amid an ongoing debate about “sanctuary” policies across the country and in some parts of the state. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Fox News that the suspect arrested for the fatal carjacking of a grandmother in Virginia on Sunday is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Jose Aguilar-Martinez, 21, is charged in the fatal Sunday encounter that resulted in the death of 54-year-old Melody Waldecker, a grandmother, FOX 5 DC reported.  COUNTY SUPERVISOR IN VIRGINIA URGING COUNTY LEADERS, SHERIFF TO HONOR ICE DETAINERS According to the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, Aguilar-Martinez is accused of carjacking Waldecker on July 28. Investigators determined she was struck by her own vehicle as the suspected carjacker fled the scene. ICE confirmed that Aguilar-Martinez entered the U.S. as a “gotaway,” meaning he entered the U.S. without being captured by Border Patrol.  The agency said it has placed a detainer request on him with local authorities, which is a request that he be transferred into ICE custody when he is eventually released from local custody. The sheriff’s office said in an update that Aguilar-Martinez had a California driver’s license. California is a sanctuary state and has a policy that allows illegal immigrants to obtain licenses. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF RUNNING OVER GRANDMOTHER IN FATAL VIRGINIA CARJACKING The incident follows another crime allegedly involving immigrants in the state. At least two of the men accused of murdering a man and leaving his body near a walking trail in Oakton, Virginia, are illegal immigrants, ABC 7 reported. Maudin Anibal Guzman-Videz is a Honduran native who entered in 2018 and was released into the U.S., before being ordered removed in 2019 yet remained in the country, according to a statement provided to Fox News Digital by ICE. According to the agency, he has multiple detainers against him in Fairfax County, but those have not been honored. He has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for assault and entering to commit burglary. However, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office told 7News that ICE did not send a detainer to its office. It has also issued a lengthy statement outlining how it defers to the state attorney general’s opinion that a detainer is only a request, and that it will only honor a detainer if ICE also has a judicial warrant. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS “ICE knows that should they wish to take one of these offenders into custody, all that is required on their part is a judicial warrant authorizing arrest. ICE is notified every time an undocumented immigrant is taken into our custody. Yet, time and again, they make no effort to secure a warrant that would give judicial authority to detain. This inaction is a failure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not of the Sheriff’s Office,” the office said. “The status of a person as an inmate or an undocumented immigrant does not diminish their right to be free from unlawful seizure, nor does it eliminate their access to due process and equal protection,” the sheriff wrote. That has brought criticism from other officials in the state, who called the reasoning a “cop-out.” The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office has had 725 undocumented immigrants in jail over the past year, but only three were transferred to ICE, according to 7 News. ICE confirmed to Fox News Digital that a second subject arrested in the incident, Wilmer Adalid Guzman-Videz, is an illegal immigrant from Honduras who entered illegally in 2022 and was released with a notice to appear. He was arrested in Washington, D.C., and ICE has lodged a detainer with the city’s police. Virginia is seen as a potential swing state, with some polls suggesting it could be in reach for former President Trump; and illegal immigration has consistently registered as a top issue of concern for voters ahead of the 2024 election.  Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Landon Mion and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

White House fires back after Trump answers question about Harris being called a ‘DEI hire’

White House fires back after Trump answers question about Harris being called a ‘DEI hire’

President Trump told a crowd on Wednesday that Vice President Harris “became a Black person,” after years of identifying as Indian, when a reporter asked him a question related to her race. Trump was speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Wednesday afternoon when ABC News’ Rachel Scott asked the former president if he agreed with Republican lawmakers who have characterized Harris as a “DEI” or diversity, equity and inclusion, hire.  “I’ve known her for a long time, indirectly, not directly… and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “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. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” The vice president’s mother was born in India and her father is a Black man from Jamaica.  Harris’s campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, released a statement about Trump’s comments shortly after the event. “The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people,” Tyler said. “Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us. “Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign,” Tyler added. “It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also responded to Trump’s comments, saying what he said is “insulting,” adding, “No one has any right to tell someone who they are.” “How they identify, that is no one’s right. It is someone’s own decision,” Jean-Pierre said. “Only she can speak to her experience.  Only she can speak to what it’s like. She’s the only person that can do that. And I think it’s insulting for anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a former leader, a former president. It is insulting. “She is the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris,” she added. “We have to put some respect on her name here.” Trump posted on Truth Social following the NABJ event, writing: “The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!”

Harris campaign rips Trump ahead of former president’s meeting with Black journalist group

Harris campaign rips Trump ahead of former president’s meeting with Black journalist group

The Harris campaign lashed out at former President Trump before he appeared on stage this afternoon at a National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) event, accusing the former president of “demeaning” the organization’s members in the past. “Ahead of Donald Trump’s conversation at NABJ today – let’s remember exactly who this man is. Not only does Donald Trump have a history of demeaning NABJ members and honorees who remain pillars of the Black press, he also has a history of attacking the media and working against the vital role the press play in our democracy,” reads a statement by Harris campaign Black Media Director Jasmine Harris, which provided several links to instances of confrontations Trump had with NABJ members during his time as president. The statement came as Trump appeared at the NABJ convention in Chicago on Wednesday, where he sat down for an interview moderated by three journalists, including Fox News’ Harris Faulkner. EX-CNN HOST DON LEMON CELEBRATES BEING FREE FROM ‘CORPORATE OVERLORDS’ SO HE CAN OPENLY SUPPORT KAMALA HARRIS But the former president’s appearance at the event has caused controversy, with critics questioning the organization’s decision to invite Trump. The decision to invite Trump was defended by NABJ President Ken Lemon, who acknowledged “the concerns expressed by our members” but argued “it is important for us to provide our members with the opportunity to hear directly from candidates and hold them accountable.” “It has always been our policy to ensure that candidates know that an invitation is not an endorsement. We also agreed that while this race is much different – and contentious – so are the consequences,” Lemon said in a statement. 9/11 TERRORIST FEARS TRUMP WILL BE ELECTED AND EXECUTE HIM, ASKS FOR FRENCH TRANSFER Nevertheless, the Harris campaign argued that Trump would “lie about his record” and the “real harm he’s caused the Black community” during his appearance at the convention. “He will lie about the skyrocketing Black unemployment and Black uninsured rates our communities suffered from when he was president,” Harris said. “He’ll lie about his failed response to the pandemic that cost Black Americans our lives and our livelihoods. He’ll lie about skyrocketing crime under his leadership and make grand claims about putting checks in people’s pockets when we know his Project 2025 agenda would cost our families thousands.” During the event, Trump clashed with ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, complaining that the journalist opened the interview with a “nasty question” and calling her TV network “fake news.” TRUMP CLASHES WITH ABC NEWS REPORTER OVER ‘NASTY QUESTION,’ BLASTS ‘FAKE NEWS NETWORK’ DURING HEATED Q&A “A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today,” Scott said. “You have told four congresswoman of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from. You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabbit’ to describe Black attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a ‘loser,’ saying the questions that they asked are ‘stupid and racist.’” “I don’t think I have ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump fired back. “I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in a good spirit. I love the Black population of this country; I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.” Meanwhile, the NABJ was not able to coordinate with Vice President Harris to have her appear at the convention, with Lemon saying in the statement that the organization had been trying to work out a way for her to appear since before she became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee. “We were advised by her campaign at the time that her schedule could not accommodate this request. The last update we were provided (earlier this week) was that Harris would not be available in person or virtually during our Convention,” Lemon said. “We are in talks about virtual options in the future and are still working to reach an agreement.” Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a Harris campaign spokesperson pointed to an NABJ statement that the vice president and organization were hoping to schedule a Q&A session in September. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.