Trump asks black reporter to "set up the meeting" with Congressional Black CaucusAfter describing people in inner cities who "lock themselves into apartments petrified to even leave in the middle of the day" for fear of crime, Donald Trump had an awkward exchange with Journalist April Ryan, who serves as the White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks. 2017-02-16T21:12:37.000Z

When journalist April D. Ryan asked President Donald Trump if he would set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss his inner-city agenda, Ryan was taken aback when Trump asked if they were her friends once she explained to him what the “CBC” refers to.

“I’ll tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting?” Trump asked.

“No, no, no, I’m just a reporter,” she told him.

“Are they friends of yours?” Trump then asked. “So set up the meeting.”

“I know some of them, but I’m sure they’re watching right now,” Ryan replied.

“I would love to meet with the black caucus. I think it’s great,” Trump said.

Trump then said that he had a meeting scheduled with Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland, but said Cummings backed out of it because he didn’t think it would be politically wise to do so. However, Cummings’ office told Politico that this wasn’t the case.

“I have no idea why President Trump would make up a story about me like he did today. Of course, Senator Schumer never told me to skip a meeting with the President,” Cummings said in a statement. “I was actually looking forward to meeting with the President about the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs. What I have been doing for the past several weeks is working closely with my partner on these efforts, Senator Bernie Sanders. My goal was to finalize our proposal to allow HHS to negotiate lower drug prices so I could present it to the President. The President has said many times that he supports this proposal, so I wanted to have our bill ready to get his support.”

Cummings was set to meet with Trump over prescription drug costs, but the meeting never took place. As the Baltimore Sun reported in late January, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said there were scheduling conflicts, but the meeting was still in the works. “We’re looking to get it back on the books,” Spicer said.

Trump’s “Are they friends of yours” comment came right after Trump told a Jewish reporter that he is the “least Anti-Semitic” and “least racist person.”

Ryan is the author of The Presidency in Black and White and the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks.

“I am a journalist not a convener! But thank you for answering my questions,” Ryan wrote on Twitter. She then retweeted the Congressional Black Caucus, which said that they did request a meeting on January 19, but never got a response.

Apparently, the Congressional Black Caucus send a request to meet with the president and they did not get a response. https://t.co/zMYTKmjBob — AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) February 16, 2017

Ryan is also the same reporter who claimed Trump communications official Omarosa Manigault threatened her a few steps from the Oval Office, The Washington Post reported. Ryan said Manigault “physically intimidated” her and suggested that she was among several journalists who Trump has “dossiers” full of information on. When asked about Ryan’s claims, Manigualt wrote to the Post, “My comment: Fake news!”