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Trump claims he 'made Juneteenth very famous' | TribLIVE.com
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Trump claims he 'made Juneteenth very famous'

Bret Gibson
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AP
President Trump looks at his phone Thursday during a roundtable meeting with governors on the reopening of America’s small businesses, in the State Dining Room of the White House.

President Trump claims he deserves credit for creating popularity for Juneteenth after drawing derision for scheduling his political rally in Tulsa, Okla., on the same date.

Juneteenth, which will be celebrated Friday, commemorates the order that the Emancipation Proclamation be enforced in Texas. The date is recognized as a holiday in 47 states and the District of Columbia.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump claimed “nobody had ever heard of” the June 19 holiday before the controversy surrounding his rally, which he later moved to Saturday.

“I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,” Trump said. “It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.”

Trump told the Journal he “polled many people around him, none of whom had heard of Juneteenth.”

But according to the report, the president was informed of the significance by one of his own Secret Service agents, who is black.

During the interview, Trump was also unaware the White House had issued statements commemorating the holiday in each of the years he has been in office. Informed by an aide of those prior statements as he spoke with the Journal, the president expressed surprise.

“Oh really? We put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement?” Trump said, according to the newspaper. “OK, OK. Good.”

Bret Gibson is a TribLive digital producer. A South Hills resident, he started working for the Trib in 1998. He can be reached at bgibson@triblive.com.

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