ABC News president Kimberly Godwin called some of former President Trump’s recent comments on African American voters "as racist as they come."
In an email sent to some ABC News staff obtained by Semafor, Godwin condemned Trump’s statements that him being indicted and getting his mugshot taken makes him more relatable to Black voters.
The email, which the ABC News boss sent Saturday, stated, "No matter one’s politics, the fact that a person running for President of the United States made these remarks period — but also to a public crowd — and with so many Black people present — and that they stand with him — is mind blowing. Shocking."
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Godwin, who has been president of the company since 2021, added, "These remarks are as racist as they come."
Trump made the comments during a gala hosted by the Black Conservative Federation in South Carolina last Friday.
"I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing. They were doing it because it’s election interference and then I got indicted a second time, and a third time and a fourth time," he said. However, he mentioned a silver lining to his legal woes.
"And a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against."
Additionally, Trump mentioned that Black Americans have "embraced" the mugshot that was taken of him in Fulton County Jail in Atlanta last August.
He told the crowd, "The mug shot, we’ve all seen the mug shot, and you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mug shot, you know they do shirts."
An ABC spokesperson told Semafor that Godwin’s email was "part of a larger editorial conversation" on covering Trump’s comments.
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The former president’s political opponents had a field day with his comments as well.
Biden's re-election campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said in a recent statement, "Donald Trump claiming that Black Americans will support him because of his criminal charges is insulting. It's moronic. And it's just plain racist."
He added, "He thinks Black voters are so uninformed that we won't see through his shameless pandering."
A DNC spokesperson said in a recent statement that Trump is "showing Black voters exactly what he thinks of them - and his ideas to win them over are as corny and racist as he is."
MSNBC host and civil rights activist Al Sharpton blasted the former president during a press conference on Saturday, saying his words were the "epitome of an insult to Black folks, and if any Black Republicans had any dignity, they would denounce this characterization of Black folk by Donald Trump."
