On Friday’s NBC Today, correspondent Hallie Jackson seized on a report that Donald Trump was set to participate in a “scripted” question and answer session with a pastor at a black church during an upcoming campaign stop in Detroit: “Donald Trump will focus on delivering his message to minority communities....that trip to Detroit to a black church over the weekend. But that trip is raising eyebrows with word it is scripted.”
A headline on screen throughout the segment blared: “Trump’s Black Church ‘Script’ Leaks; Campaign Under Fire for Scripted Q & A With Pastor.” Jackson proclaimed: “His new overtures now under fire....a new report paints a picture of a nervous campaign. A leaked script for Trump's Q & A session with an African-American pastor published by The New York Times. Trump's answers apparently prepared in advance by advisers to keep him in check.”
She then touted the Clinton campaign attacking the Republican nominee: “Hillary Clinton's camp calling the trip ‘a gimmick.’” That was particularly audacious since Jackson’s report completely ignored the fact that it had been 273 days since Clinton conducted a press conference, seemingly afraid of any Q & A with reporters.
In fact, the only reference on the Today show this week to Clinton avoiding the press came on Tuesday, when correspondent Andrea Mitchell briefly attempted to blame the failure on top aide Huma Abedin: “Look, she [Abedin] is the most powerful figure – political figure and personal figure – in Hillary Clinton's circle....But there are also criticisms that this has led to Hillary Clinton not getting other insights, being too insular, not having press on the plane, not having press conferences...”
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On Friday, the ABC and CBS morning shows also noted Trump’s Q & A script. In an 8 a.m. ET hour news brief on Good Morning America, news anchor Paula Faris reported:
We turn to politics and Donald Trump will visit an African-American church in Detroit over the weekend before a mostly minority community. And Trump will sit down for a one-on-one interview with the church pastor, and according to The New York Times, Trump will be following eight pages of scripted questions and answers prepared by his campaign aides. He is also expected to address the congregation afterwards.
On CBS This Morning, fill-in co-host DeMarco Morgan asked Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson about the controversy:
DEMARCO MORGAN: John, the New York Times is actually reporting that Trump's campaign is planning pretty heavy for his visit to an African-American church tomorrow in Detroit. They are also talking about scripting answers to questions and they have been submitted in advance. What do you make of that?
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, The old Donald Trump vs. the new Donald Trump. The old Donald Trump said if you even use a Teleprompter that qualified you from the presidency because it meant you didn’t have thoughts of your own. Now, they are scripting, not just the questions but the answers for this event. This, again, is a show event as part of the new strategy to show that he is a different candidate than the one that is frightening that group of Republican voters and that people think the key hurdle for Donald Trump is can he inhabit the office? Does he have the judgment and temperament to inhabit the office? These show events are meant to show that he can kind of behave more like a normal candidate.
However, unlike NBC, both the ABC and CBS broadcasts also covered Clinton refusing to engage the media. On GMA, political analyst Matthew Dowd joked of the Democratic nominee: “She hasn't held a press conference in nine months. Almost as if you put her face on a milk carton to find her these days...”
In an 8 a.m. ET hour news brief on This Morning, Morgan highlighted a reversal in the Clinton campaign’s handling of the press:
DEMARCO MORGAN: For the first time, Hillary Clinton plans to share her plane with reporters covering her campaign. The change starts on Monday when she will be campaigning in Iowa, Illinois, and Ohio. The last time Clinton answered even one question from her traveling press was on August 16th, two and a half weeks ago. We asked her running mate Senator Tim Kaine about that yesterday.
NORAH O’DONNELL: She is not allowing journalists to accompany her on the campaign plane. This is something that has been standard since I've covered presidential campaigns. Why is that the case? Do you believe in transparency? Do you think this will change?
TIM KAINE: Well, I mean, I'm going to use my own example. I'm traveling too. And I travel on a small plane and the press travels in a plane with me. We are not on the plane together. But that is going to change in about a week. And I think that is fairly common.
MORGAN: The New York Times calls Clinton's policy to keep reporters on a separate plane, quote, “a departure from how presidential candidates have dealt with their dedicated press corps since at least the early 1960s by which point journalists were regularly traveling with them on their planes,” end quote. Donald Trump has also kept the reporters off his plane. He had 42 campaign events last month, compared to 19 for Clinton.
As he referenced, on Thursday, the hosts of the CBS morning show hammered Tim Kaine on the issue.
Here is a full transcript of Jackson’s September 2 report on Today:
7:10 AM ET
MATT LAUER: Let’s turn to politics now, as Donald Trump heads from Ohio to New York for a classified briefing from U.S. intelligence officials today. So replacing him in that battleground state is Vice President Joe Biden, who’s there stomping for Hillary Clinton, and taking Trump to task on a wide range of issues. NBC’s Hallie Jackson has the latest on the race for the White House. Hallie, good morning.
HALLIE JACKSON: Hey, good morning, Matt. After that second intelligence briefing in a very windy Manhattan here, Donald Trump will focus on delivering his message to minority communities, reportedly reaching out to African-American voters in Philadelphia before that trip to Detroit to a black church over the weekend. But that trip is raising eyebrows with word it is scripted. All of it as Trump seems to shift on immigration yet again. Just a couple days after his tough talk, a softer tone.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump’s Black Church “Script” Leaks; Campaign Under Fire for Scripted Q&A With Pastor]
His new overtures now under fire as Donald Trump promises he can help African-American voters.
DONALD TRUMP: Give it to me. I'm going to fix it.
JACKSON: But ahead of his first ever trip to a black church in Detroit this weekend, a new report paints a picture of a nervous campaign. A leaked script for Trump's Q & A session with an African-American pastor published by The New York Times. Trump's answers apparently prepared in advance by advisers to keep him in check. Hillary Clinton's camp calling the trip “a gimmick.”
Trump working to win over more minority communities, like Hispanics. And now, after defiantly dismissing speculation he’d soften up on immigration, seeming to do just that, on whether to deport undocumented immigrants living here who haven't committed other crimes.
TRUMP: We're going to get rid of all of the bad players that are here. After that takes place, we're gonna sit back, we’re going to assess the situation, we're going to see where we are.
JACKSON: But earlier this week, at his big immigration speech –
TRUMP: You can't just smuggle in, hunker down, and wait to be legalized.
JACKSON: Trump's stance turned off some of his own Hispanic advisers, but not the founder of Latinos for Trump, who raised eyebrows with this on MSNBC.
MARCO GUTIERREZ [LATINOS FOR TRUMP]: My culture is a very dominant culture and it’s imposing and it's causing problems. If you don't do something about it, you're going to have taco trucks on every corner.
JACKSON: Trump on the campaign trail in Ohio, his 12th public event since mid-August. Six times as many as Hillary Clinton, holding just two public events in the last two weeks. Vice President Joe Biden on the trail instead, pitching Clinton but passing up the chance to vigorously defend her family foundation with NBC's Kasie Hunt.
KASIE HUNT: Has the Clinton Foundation always been 100% ethical in your view?
JOE BIDEN: Look, I think the Clinton Foundation, like all foundations, have found themselves in a position where things are changing. And I think she's going to change and adjust to the realities of how complicated it's all become.
HUNT: Trump's team, by the way, quickly taking aim at that response from Vice President Biden, arguing it speaks volumes about what they call Hillary Clinton's terrible judgment. Matt, Savannah?
LAUER: Alright, Hallie Jackson. Thanks very much.
By the way, a look ahead, next Wednesday I'll sit down with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It's part of our special Commander-in-Chief Forum. It will be the first joint candidate event of the general election season. That’s September 7th, 8:00 in the evening, right here on NBC. And simulcast, by the way, on MSNBC.
