Black conservative mouthpiece Candace Owens has offered an explanation about why some of the guests who attended President Donald Trump’s Saturday event at the White House had their travel and lodging paid for by her BLEXIT group.
Emails obtained by ABC News show that guests attending the South Lawn event made up mostly of hundreds of attendees from an Owens-organized “Back the Blue” rally — a demonstration of mostly African-Americans and Latinos in support of law enforcement — would have their travel costs covered by BLEXIT, a nonprofit aimed at getting Black Americans to exit the Democratic Party.
“Blexit is the Black exit from the Democratic Party. It’s the Black exit from permanent victimhood, the Black exit from the false idea that we are somehow separate from the rest of America,” Owens told Fox News in 2018.
In addition to attending the BLEXIT rally earlier in the day, guests were asked to show up at a “HUGE outdoor rally,” and to acknowledge that BLEXIT would cover the cost by filling out a form. It’s not clear how many guests had their travel costs covered by the group, ABC reported..
Later on guests learned they would be receiving an invitation to attend a Trump event.
The first event was called the “BLEXIT Back the Blue event,” and the president’s remarks took place on the South Lawn.
Owens tweeted on Saturday in response to reporting about BLEXIT paying for attendees’ travel expenses, saying that some individuals asked for financial help, so the group provided stipends.
After former Illinois Rep. Helene Walsh accused Owens of using laundered money to pay for the attendees’ travel expenses, the conservative activist announced that she had passed the accusation on to her lawyers, calling the allegation “insane,” and saying she she is “not one to play with.”
The South Lawn event was Trump’s first in-person event since his COVID-19 diagnosis. An email from Owens stated that all guests would be required to wear a mask without any exceptions. Many attendees can be seen not wearing masks in pictures of the event.
“We are not interested in participating in your obvious media angle here to slander/attack the President regarding Covid-19,” said Owens in response to ABC’s request for comment.
