Donald Trump brought out multiple black pastors at a rally in Virginia after his highly publicized meeting with black religious leaders earlier in the week.
Steve Parson, a black minister from Virginia who attended the meeting in Trump’s office Monday, took center stage Wednesday night and spoke for a few minutes at a Trump event in Manassas.
“People ask me, well why are you endorsing Donald Trump?” Parson said. “My opinion: he’s the best, and the only one that can beat Hillary Clinton. We have to win. And one thing about Donald Trump is he’s a winner, Amen. He knows how to create wealth, can I get an Amen? And as a black minister … we’re right in the inner city, and I’ll tell you we need jobs, we need employment, we need businesses. And I tell you who better to help us help ourselves than Donald Trump?”
“Donald Trump just doesn’t take anybody’s mess,” Parson finished.
Trump’s meeting with black pastors Monday stirred controversy when he prematurely said the attendees of the meeting would endorse him, which not all planned to do. He said he received “many” endorsements after the meeting.
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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com