Politics

Trump Adviser Has ‘Good Relationship’ With Louis Farrakhan

(Photo: DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images)

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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Donald Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault said Thursday that she has a “good relationship” with Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader known for his anti-white and anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Manigault, a former contestant on Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” also said that she would welcome an invitation to meet Farrakhan.

“I think any of your audience would know that I’ve never shied away from having a [sic] open, and I believe a good, relationship with Louis Farrakhan,” Manigault said in an interview with WVON, a Chicago radio station. “I would look forward to receiving that invitation and sitting down with him.”

“That’s a revolutionary statement,” one of the show’s hosts responded.

Farrakhan is a controversial figure, to say the least. In sermons and public appearances, he has criticized whites and Jews, though his comments about Trump have been mixed.

In Dec. 2015, he said that a Trump presidency would send the U.S. into the “abyss of Hell.” But several months later, the 83-year-old minister praised Trump for comments he made during a political function hosted by Jewish Republicans.

Farrakhan said that Trump was the only presidential candidate “who has stood in front of the Jewish community and said ‘I don’t want your money.'”

“Not that I’m for Mr. Trump, but I like what I’m looking at,” said Farrakhan.

Manigault did not elaborate on her relationship with Farrakhan. But she contrasted his openness to meeting with political opponents to other leaders in the black community.

“I’ve had African-American leaders who say, ‘I’m just going to ignore the Trump administration for four years,’ and that’s dangerous,” Manigault said.

“We have to be at the table. We have to have an open dialogue with folks, and we can’t just say we’re going to resist or ignore for four years.”

She specifically criticized Al Sharpton, saying that the National Action Network leader only criticized Trump but “never came to the table.”

There’s a bit of bad blood between Manigault and Sharpton. The civil rights activist scolded Manigault following her remarks at a National Action Network conference last week.

[h/t Politico]

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