Trump changed the date of his 'Juneteenth' rally last year after a black Secret Service agent told him it was 'very offensive' to hold gathering on day commemorating the end of slavery in the US, new book claims

 President Donald Trump changed the date of a political rally last year after a black Secret Service member told him holding it on Juneteenth was 'very offensive.'

The revelation comes the same week that current President Joe Biden signed Juneteenth into law as an official federal holiday. 

Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery.


Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender's new book 'Frankly We Did Win This Election': The Inside Story of How Donald Trump Lost,' tells of an incident between Trump and a black Secret Service member leading into the former president's Tulsa rally last year, which he had scheduled on same the day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. 

Bender's book claims that Trump was confronted by a black Secret Service member who told then-President Trump how 'very offensive' it was to hold a political rally on Juneteenth.

Both Trump and his then-campaign manager Brad Parscale were unaware they had booked his first rally since the COVID-19 outbreak on Juneteenth, and rescheduled it for a later date.  

A new book reveals former President Donald Trump's aloofness when he booked a rally in Tulsa on the same day as 'Juneteenth' last year, which he quickly rescheduled when confronted

A new book reveals former President Donald Trump's aloofness when he booked a rally in Tulsa on the same day as 'Juneteenth' last year, which he quickly rescheduled when confronted

Pictured: Brad Parscale, campaign manager for US President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, had unknowingly scheduled the Tulsa rally on 'Juneteenth'

Pictured: Brad Parscale, campaign manager for US President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, had unknowingly scheduled the Tulsa rally on 'Juneteenth'

'It's very offensive to me that you're having this rally on Juneteenth' the Secret Service member allegedly told Trump when learning of the Tulsa rally date

'It's very offensive to me that you're having this rally on Juneteenth' the Secret Service member allegedly told Trump when learning of the Tulsa rally date

'No one on Parscale's team flagged that day — or that combination of time and place — as potentially problematic,' Bender wrote according to The Hill

While no one in Trump's inner circle outwardly questioned the date and location choice for the rally, others in the Republican Party saw bad optics..

'Don’t do this,' Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, told Parscale, according to the book. 'The media is not going to give us the benefit of the doubt, especially now.' 

Trump had mentioned during an interview last year that he had learned of the holiday and its significance from a black Secret Serviceman, but Bender's new book, excerpts of which were published in Politico on Friday, revealed additional details regarding that encounter. 


'Do you know what it is?' Trump asked once the backlash began over his Tulsa rally date. 

'Yes, I know what it is,' the unnamed agent said to Trump when he asked him about the day, according to Bender's book.

'And it's very offensive to me that you're having this rally on Juneteenth.'

Juneteenth is held on June 19 and celebrates the day back in 1865 when Union soldiers went to Galveston, Texas, to inform the last remaining enslaved Black Americans that they were free

Juneteenth is held on June 19 and celebrates the day back in 1865 when Union soldiers went to Galveston, Texas, to inform the last remaining enslaved Black Americans that they were free

President Biden signed the bill, which was already passed by both chambers of Congress, to make the June 19 a federal holiday on Wednesday

President Biden signed the bill, which was already passed by both chambers of Congress, to make the June 19 a federal holiday on Wednesday

Trump tweeted that he intended on rescheduling the rally within hours of that conversation, Bender's book alleges. 

Juneteenth, which is held on June 19, celebrates the day back in 1865 when Union soldiers went to Galveston, Texas, to inform the last remaining enslaved Black Americans that they were free, which effectively ended slavery in the United States.

The location Parscale had chosen for Trump's ill-fated rally date also bares historical  significance to black Americans, as Tulsa was the site of the worst massacres of black Americans in the country's history, Bender adds in his book.

Trump was quick to take credit for the holiday's popularity, however, 

Nobody had heard of it, Trump told Bender, saying he had made Juneteenth 'a day to remember.'

Meanwhile, President Biden signed the bill, which was already passed by both chambers of Congress, to make the June 19 a federal holiday on Wednesday. 

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