Stephen A. Smith went on the defensive Wednesday during a visit to The View.
The ESPN host, podcaster and cultural commentator sat down with the show’s hosts one day after a furious Ana Navarro criticized him, comedian Bill Maher and musician Kid Rock for attending a White House dinner on Oct. 15 with President Trump.
Almost as soon as he took a seat at the table, the hosts grilled Smith about his ties to Trump.
Smith revealed he was invited to the dinner as Maher’s guest, after Trump suggested the comedian bring one of his “crazy leftist friends.” The sports analyst said he welcomed the invitation because there were issues he wanted to discuss with the president.
“I came there with three agendas. Number one, to address unemployment for Black women in this country. I came to address the Protect College Sports Act that obviously was passed through the Senate and now has to go through the House, which I’m not a supporter of because I don’t think it has representation for the student athlete. And of course, number one on my list was HBCUs,” Smith explained.
Related: Why Is Stephen A. Smith Complaining About Black Journalists on Fox News?
He said he pressed Trump on his administration’s policies targeting diversity, equity and inclusion, policies Smith said have made some companies and wealthy individuals reluctant to donate to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“To his credit, he said, ‘I actually didn’t think about that. I’m going to think about that a lot more and I’ll be talking to you about it,’” Smith said.
He added that Trump called him after the meeting “to ask me to reiterate what my points were about the HBCUs, because he plans on talking to people about that in the next few days.”
Smith then directed pointed comments at his critics, including Navarro, who questioned his decision to meet with Trump.
“It points to a bigger issue. There are so many people that have this mentality [of] why even waste time talking to him?” he said. “Whether you like it or not, he’s the president of the United States of America.”
He also got into an exchange with Sunny Hostin about what may happen to Trump if Democrats gain control of the House or Senate in the November election.
“He’s not going away,” Smith said. “Until 2028, he has the power of the pen of the executive office of commander in chief of the United States of America. You’re going to have to deal with him.”
He added that he’s “not apologizing” for meeting with Trump.
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