Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Clinton Campaign's Answer to Trump's Question to the African American Community

Today during a rally in Michigan, Donald Trump asked the African American community "What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty. Your Schools are no good. You have no jobs." Hillary for America Director of State Campaigns and Political Engagement Marlon Marshall has an answer for Trump:

"Donald Trump asks what the African American community has to lose by voting for him. The answer is everything from a man who questions the citizenship of the first African American President, courts white supremacists, and has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of color.

"Trump painting the entire community as living in poverty with no jobs continues to show he is completely out of touch with the African American community."

BACKGROUND:

TRUMP WAS TWICE SUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR DISCRIMINATING IN HOUSING

October 1973: The Justice Department Filed A Civil Rights Case Against Trump Management Inc. For Discriminating Against Blacks And Puerto Ricans. "The employees allegedly directed blacks and Puerto Ricans away from buildings with mostly white tenants, and steered them toward properties that had many minorities, the government filings alleged. In October 1973, the Justice Department filed a civil rights case that accused the Trump firm, whose complexes contained 14,000 apartments, of violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968." [Washington Post, 1/23/16]

• According To Federal Investigators, Trump Employees Marked Applications From Minorities With "C" For "Colored.""Federal investigators also gathered evidence. Trump employees had secretly marked the applications of minorities with codes, such as 'No. 9' and 'C' for 'colored,' according to government interview accounts filed in federal court." [Washington Post, 1/23/16]

New York Times' Nicholas Kristof: The Government Amassed "Overwhelming Evidence" The Trumps Discriminated Against Blacks And The Trumps Were Forced To Settle, But The Government Sued Them Again Three Years Later When They Continued To Discriminate. "I've waded through 1,021 pages of documents from that legal battle, and they are devastating. Donald Trump was then president of the family real estate firm, and the government amassed overwhelming evidence that the company had a policy of discriminating against blacks, including those serving in the military… Donald Trump furiously fought the civil rights suit in the courts and the media, but the Trumps eventually settled on terms that were widely regarded as a victory for the government. Three years later, the government sued the Trumps again, for continuing to discriminate." [Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, 7/23/16]

TRUMP'S DEFENSE WHEN ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATING IN HOUSING WAS THAT HE JUST DID NOT WANT TO "RENT TO WELFARE CASES"

Donald Trump Argued That The Company Had Wanted To Avoid Renting Apartments To Welfare Recipients, But Had Not Discriminated By Race. "The younger Trump demonstrated the brash, combative style that would make him famous, holding forth at a news conference in a Manhattan hotel to decry the government's arguments as 'such outrageous lies.' He would also say that the company wanted to avoid renting apartments to welfare recipients of any color but never discriminated based on race." [Washington Post, 1/23/16]

• Trump: "What We Didn't Do Was Rent To Welfare Cases, White Or Black.""'What we didn't do was rent to welfare cases, white or black,' Trump wrote in his 1987 autobiography." [Washington Post, 1/23/16]

TRUMP QUESTIONED PRESIDENT OBAMA'S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND WHETHER OR NOT HE WAS BORN IN THE UNITED STATES

Trump On President Obama: "He Doesn't Have A Birth Certificate. He May Have One But There's Something On That Maybe Religion, Maybe It Says He Is A Muslim… Or He May Not Have One." O'REILLY: "Do you think it's an important subject?" TRUMP: "Listen, I have a birth certificate. I have my birth certificate. And in fact, they said the one I gave yesterday wasn't good enough. So I actually got the one from the Health Department which is a perfect one. Because they were saying the one I gave yesterday wasn't good enough so I got the other. People have birth certificates. He doesn't have a birth certificate. He may have one but there's something on that maybe religion, maybe it says he is a Muslim. Maybe he doesn't want that. Or he may not have one. But I will tell you this. If he wasn't born in this country it's one of the great scams of all time." [O'Reilly Factor, Fox News, 3/30/11]

WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE USING TRUMP'S CANDIDACY AS A RECRUITING TOOLHEADLINE: "White Nationalists See Advancement Through Donald Trump's Candidacy." [Wall Street Journal, 5/17/16]

Politico: "Stormfront, The Most Prominent American White Supremacist Website, Is Upgrading Its Servers In Part To Cope With A Trump Traffic Spike." [Politico, 12/10/15]

HEADLINE: "Virginia KKK Leader Endorses Trump: 'What He Believes In, We Believe In'" [Talking Points Memo, 4/30/16]

TRUMP REFUSED TO DISAVOW DAVID DUKE AND THE KLAN FOUR TIMES IN ONE INTERVIEWTrump Refused To Condemn David Duke And The KKK Four Times In One Interview, Claiming He Did Not "Know Anything About David Duke." "On the Sunday morning talk shows, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump refused to condemn endorsements from a prominent white supremacist and former KKK leader, and said he retweeted a Mussolini quote because 'it's a very good quote.'… Trump refused to condemn that endorsement or say he didn't want the support of white supremacists — four times. 'I don't know anything about David Duke. I don't know what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacist. I don't know. I don't know, did he endorse me, or what's going on?' he said." [NPR, 2/28/16]

• Trump Claimed He Could Not Condemn The KKK Because He Knew "Nothing" And It Would Be Unfair To Condemn Groups That Were "Totally Fine."TRUMP: "You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I would have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them. And, certainly, I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong." TAPPER: "The Ku Klux Klan?" TRUMP: "But you may have groups in there that are totally fine, and it would be very unfair. So, give me a list of the groups, and I will let you know." [State Of The Union, CNN, 2/28/16]

TRUMP ON BEING SUPPORTED BY WHITE SUPREMACISTS: "A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE ME"Trump On Being Supported By White Supremacist Groups: "A Lot Of People Like Me." HEILEMANN: "But if you read this story and read a lot of people who are white, and organized white supremacist groups talking ebulliently about you, talking why they about – why they like you so much, would that trouble you at all? Does that give you pause, make you wonder about your message?" TRUMP: "Honestly, John, I would have to read the story. A lot of people like me." [Bloomberg TV, 8/26/15]