Rep. Byron Donalds: I want 'conservative ideals' being discussed at the Congressional Black Caucus table

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GOP Rep shunned by Congressional Black Caucus has message for 'radical left'

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., calls those saying he isn't 'Black enough' for the caucus on 'The Ingraham Angle'

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., appeared on "The Ingraham Angle" to discuss being shut out of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) as well as the contentious exchange he had with a CNN anchor. 

Donalds appeared on the liberal network to discuss the stonewalling from the CBC, which has yet to welcome the freshman GOP lawmaker into the group despite his vocal interest in joining. The CBC currently does not have any Republican members.

However, "New Day" anchor Brianna Keilar spent much of the interview fixating on his past support for former President Trump and various voting rights bills she alleged would restrict minority voters, suggesting those factors may be "incongruent" with the CBC's mission. 

REP. BYRON DONALDS' OFFICE: ‘WHITE LIBERALS’ LIKE CNN'S BRIANNA KEILAR ‘CAN’T COMPREHEND' BLACK REPUBLICANS

"The media's been covering Democrats for quite some time. So when they try to bring up President Trump and things he has said as justification I found it to be outrageous because Laura, the last time I checked, I was born Black, I've grown up Black, I've made it in America as a Black man, I graduated college as a Black man, I raised my sons as a Black man, I came into the halls of Congress as a Black man," Donalds told Fox News' Laura Ingraham. "So I don't know what Donald Trump, Joe Biden or frankly anybody has to do with the CBC and myself."

Donalds, who was previously a member of the Black Legislative Caucus as a Florida lawmaker, recalled having "much more congenial" interactions in the Sunshine State than in Washington D.C.   

The GOP congressman said the "funny thing" about the current clash with the CBC is that he has spoken with "a lot of the members" who've asked him if he wanted to join the group.

"For me, Laura, it's about making sure that conservative ideals are actually being discussed in the room and at the table," Donalds explained. "I know that a lot of members of the CBC will not agree with me and I'm not gonna agree with them. But it's about actually having the conversation that the left always says they want to have. I'm prepared to have it, I'm ready to sit down and discuss it,  but apparently, they don't want to discuss it with me."

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"To me, we're all members of Congress. We go on TV shows all the time. We debate each other in committees and on the House floor, so I don't see why we just can't have this conversation just in front of each other and then we go from there and part our ways if that's what the decision is," he continued. "I think it's more a matter of they're accustomed to the way they do things in the CBC. I don't know if I cause a problem for them or not, but it's really about all of Black America and all of America being exposed to all ideas and ideologies across the political spectrum, not just one."

The freshman lawmaker later appeared to take a swipe at Keilar for how she conducted the interview with him. 

"When it comes to people on the radical left, especially when it comes to White liberals who try to make me seem like I'm not Black enough for them, I tell them to walk a mile in my shoes, talk to my mom who still lives in Brooklyn, New York today," Donalds said.