Al Sharpton blasts 'racist' Trump adviser for 'using an N-word referring to my daughter'

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AP

Rev. Al Sharpton told Business Insider that a series of comments that were posted on Facebook by a top adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign are "as racial as you can get."

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The Facebook updates were published by Sam Nunberg, a communications consultant on Trump's campaign. Nunberg's comments on Facebook were first reported by Business Insider on Friday. They include multiple posts where Nunberg described President Barack Obama as "Kenyan" and "Muslim" and a 2007 update where Nunberg wrote about calling Sharpton's daughter "N---!"

In a phone conversation with Business Insider, Sharpton called Nunberg's comments "racist" and said they raise questions about the "environment" of Trump's campaign.

"You would have to wonder why this guy would be comfortable enough to post this on his Facebook and then have that job and not be concerned ... that someone that does not have views that are racial would even be open to him being around them," Sharpton said. "This appears to me to be very much his persona. This is not a secret."

When Business Insider reached out to Nunberg to ask about the posts, he said he could not recall things he wrote on Facebook so long ago. A Trump campaign spokesperson said Nunberg would be "terminated immediately" if the campaign verified he made the remarks.

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View Nunberg's Facebook posts about Sharpton below.

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You can read some of Nunberg's other Facebook posts here.

Trump, who is currently the frontrunner in the Republican primary, has previously made controversial comments about the black community. However, Trump has maintained that he has a "great relationship with African Americans."

Sharpton noted he has "gone back and forth" with Trump on racial issues in the past. The pair clashed over the "Central Park Five" case in New York City. Sharpton said the pair made their pease after that disagreement, but then "fell out" when Trump launched his high-profile crusade questioning Obama's birth certificate during the 2012 presidential race.

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"He and I have debated back and forth on race. I fought him years ago on Central Park and we talked cordially, then we fell out on birther," Sharpton said of his relationship with Trump. "I met with him and told him. He said, 'You can't call me a racist.' I said, 'I think what you said was racist.' So, we've gone back-and-forth, but this shows an environment that is intolerable."