Clark Atlanta Response to ‘Saved My College’ Trump Rally Comment

Donald TrumpClark Atlanta University has issued a response to remarks made by former President Donald J. Trump at a recent campaign rally in Atlanta regarding his work with the historically Black university during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump quoted Michaelah Montgomery — reportedly a former Clark Atlanta student and who was at the rally — as telling him “You saved my college,” when they met at another Georgia campaign event earlier in 2024. Though it is not clear how the words were intended, the university provided some clarification in a social media post.

"As amongst our nation's 4,000 Higher Education institutions, multi-national corporations, hospitals, and others to have benefited from CARES and HEERF bipartisan support garnered during the administration of Former President Donald Trump, Clark Atlanta University is appreciative of such support, but was not ‘saved’ by COVID funding," read the university statement.

Trump is the Republican Party nominee for the upcoming 2024 presidential election. He narrowly lost the state of Georgia (by about 13,000 votes) to President Joe Biden in his 2020 campaign for president.