Some of the black pastors scheduled to meet with the Donald Trump Monday are pushing back at his campaign’s claims that they will endorse him after the meeting. According to the Daily Beast, a number of pastors have taken to social media to deny that the meeting means Trump will gain their support.
“I am not officially endorsing ANY candidate and when I do you will NOT need to hear it from pulpitting courtjesters who suffer from intellectual and spiritual myopia,” Bishop Clarence McClendon, a Los Angeles-based minister who had been invited to the meeting, said on Facebook, the Daily Beast reported. O
Other religious leaders, including some based in Detroit and Atlanta, also said they did not intend to endorse Trump, according to the Daily Beast report.
The Trump campaign had said in a press release earlier this week that, “Mr. Trump will be joined by a coalition of 100 African American Evangelical pastors and religious leaders who will endorse the GOP frontrunner after a private meeting at Trump Tower.”
The campaign did not respond to the Daily Beast’s inquiries as to which of the pastors will endorse Trump.
Pastor Darrell Scott, who is organizing Monday’s meeting, admitted to the Daily Beast that his invitation to the other pastors did not mean that they were endorsing the GOP frontrunner.
“All of these guys are my friends and they know me,” Scott said. “I let them know I am endorsing but that doesn’t mean you are endorsing.”
