--- title: Donald Trump Asked Reporter if She Would Set Up a Meeting description: President Trump asked a black reporter if the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are "friends of yours" canonical: https://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-16T20:35:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T11:49:45.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Asked a Black Reporter to Set Up a Meeting With Black Lawmakers og:description: "Are they friends of yours?" og:url: https://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4884fad78a5913/6988bab9bc6cfc335d3e0325/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1821 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CONGRESS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Asked a Black Reporter to Set Up a Meeting With Black Lawmakers twitter:description: "Are they friends of yours?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4884fad78a5913/6988bab9bc6cfc335d3e0325/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production ---  # President Trump Asked a Black Reporter to Set Up a Meeting With Black Lawmakers by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:49 AM UTCPublished: Feb 16, 2017 8:35 PM UTC  President Donald Trump arrives at a meeting with members of Congress in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Feb. 16, 2017. President Donald Trump arrives at a meeting with members of Congress in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Feb. 16, 2017.Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:49 AM UTCPublished: Feb 16, 2017 8:35 PM UTC President Trump asked a black reporter if the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are “friends of yours,” pressing her on whether she would set up a meeting with them for him. At an [hour-plus press conference Thursday](http://time.com/4673624/donald-trump-press-conference-combative/), Trump was asked by April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks if he would involve the Congressional Black Caucus when [making plans for executive orders](http://time.com/4673624/donald-trump-press-conference-combative/) affecting inner city areas. Trump at first didn’t understand the question, as Ryan referred to the organization of black lawmakers by its initials, the CBC, and she had to restate the question. “Well, I would. I tell you what. Do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting?” he asked. “No, no, no,” Ryan replied. “I’m just a reporter.” “Are they friends of yours?” he asked. “Let’s go, set up a meeting. I would love to meet with the Black Caucus … I think it’s great,” he said. Trump and the Congressional Black Caucus have not yet met, although White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in January that [a plan for a meeting was in the works](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article131330789.html). The CBC responded on Twitter, saying it had sent Trump a letter but received no response: > [](https://twitter.com/OfficialCBC/status/832316384260526081) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/"},"headline":"President Trump Asked a Black Reporter to Set Up a Meeting With Black Lawmakers","datePublished":"2017-02-16T20:35:01.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T11:49:45.000Z","description":"\"Are they friends of yours?\"","url":"https://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4884fad78a5913/6988bab9bc6cfc335d3e0325/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4884fad78a5913/6988bab9bc6cfc335d3e0325/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CONGRESS","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CONGRESS","creditText":"Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/","name":"President Trump Asked a Black Reporter to Set Up a Meeting With Black Lawmakers"}}]}] ```