Trump claims to be 'least racist person in' debate room

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump claimed Thursday evening to be the "least racist person in the room" as he faced off against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the final debate before the Nov. 3 presidential election.

"Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump," Trump said before conceding a "possible exception of Abraham Lincoln."

Lincoln, the country’s 16th president, famously issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the roughly 3.5 million Blacks held in slavery by white owners in the South to be freed amid a separatist war the Confederacy waged to maintain slavery. The document is widely credited as a keystone in the advancement of Black rights in America ahead of the Thirteenth Amendment, which formally ended slavery.

Biden quickly jabbed the president for his self-comparison to Lincoln, saying of Trump "Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history."

"He pours fuel on every single racist fire. Every single one," Biden said. "Started off his campaign coming down the escalator saying he’s going to get rid of those Mexican rapists. He’s banned Muslims because they’re Muslims."

He was referring to a ban Trump has repeatedly revised amid court challenges that now includes non-Muslim-majority countries North Korea and Venezuela as well as six predominantly-Muslim nations.

Trump began his 2016 bid for the White House in an announcement speech by saying "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best."

"They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” he said.

The president has gone on to institute a series of controversial policies that have curtailed both legal and illegal forms of migration to the US.

"Come on, this guy is a dog whistle about as big as a fog horn,” Biden said.

A "dog whistle" generally refers to coded language used to covertly invoke racism.

Trump further sought to link the Black Lives Matter movement to chants he said he saw affiliated protesters make, referring to police as "pigs" who should be killed.

"The first time I ever heard of Black Lives Matter, they were chanting 'pigs in a blanket' talking about police," Trump said. "Pigs, talking about our police. 'Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon.' I said 'that's a horrible thing.' And they were marching down the street. That was my first glimpse of Black Lives Matter."

Thursday night's remarks are not the first time the president has sought to link Black Lives Matter to the chant. He did so in a tweet on June 25, prompting a CNN fact-check to determine that he was referring to a Black Lives Matter protest in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2015 that was not linked to the national organization of the same name.

"We could find no evidence the chant has been used by the national organization, by any Black Lives Matter groups in the New York City area, or by Black Lives Matter activists anywhere outside Minnesota -- nor even by the St. Paul group on any subsequent occasion," CNN said.