Story highlights Trump took a question from Ryan

"Do you want to set up the meeting?" Trump asked

(CNN) President Donald Trump on Thursday asked April Ryan, an African-American reporter and longtime White House correspondent, if she would arrange for him a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Late in a rollicking and unexpected news conference, Trump took a question from Ryan, who asked about his campaign promise to revitalize the American urban centers he frequently described in bleak terms.

Trump responded first by telling Ryan that her question was "very professional and very good," then claimed he received "a much higher percentage of the African-American vote than a lot of people thought" because of his attention to the "inner cities."

The moment when Trump asks @AprilDRyan if she wants to set up his meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. https://t.co/XXa7dzbPmT — Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) February 16, 2017

When questioned on whether he planned to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of African-American lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Trump asked Ryan if she would organize it herself.

"I'll tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting?" he said. "Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?

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