Trump's Campaign Hits Back After Atlanta Barbershop Owner Claimed He Was 'Betrayed'

Donald Trump's campaign has hit back at the allegations made by an Atlanta barbershop owner, Rocky Jones, who claimed to be in the dark about the event that took place in his shop. The campaign shared the official signed agreement that had the signatures of Jones on it, captioned, "The business owner signed an agreement with the Trump campaign and received payment for the time spent in his location for this event. See the contract below." 

The tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter) was in response to a tweet by AP News reporter Matt Brown, who wrote, "The owner of the Black barbershop where @ByronDonalds, @WesleyHuntTX and Ben Carson hosted a Trump campaign surrogate roundtable says he wasn’t told it was a political event beforehand. 'I feel like I have been betrayed.'"

The news about the event broke out like wildfire and ended up with several calling out the Republicans in question. However, the clarification tweet by Trump's team has left the onlookers with no scurried opinions. The event, Black American Business Leaders Barbershop Roundtable, invited a huge number of visitors and cameras to the barbershop on June 26. 

Jones shared that he was taken aback when the event was touted as a big political forum featuring prominent Black supporters of Trump. "I honestly didn’t think about it. It was just once you say Black small business give back to the community, it’s like, ‘OK, I’m doing it.’ Just be aware that it is election season, and the timing seems a little suspect," Jones said as reported by Atlanta Black Star. "We had some calls Thursday. We definitely got some calls, some backlash, some angry people that don’t know me, and I have to deal with that," he told 11Alive.

He shared that he was approached by a well-known friend to host a small roundtable talk in the Buckhead barbershop, just a day prior to the first most awaited, presidential debate. The crowd included former HUD Secretary Dr. Carson and Rep. Wesley Hunt. The discussion was moderated by Rep. Byron Donalds, as reported by Atlanta Daily World.

As per the tweet by the Trump campaign, Javier Jones, who is the owner of the shop (according to records) had signed the agreement with the campaign’s treasurer, Bradley Crate. The signature was stamped at 11:45 a.m. that mentioned that the owner agreed to rent his business to the former POTUS Trump's 'political event.'

The document also included the "Event Security" section that clearly stated, "...owner acknowledges and agrees that the Event may feature individuals under the protection of U.S. Secret Service, and that Secret Service will operate in connection with the Event…" In the wake of this, X users gave a mixed reaction. For instance, user @aquahueblue reacted to the campaign's post by writing, "There is NO WAY he wouldn’t have known. Security, clearances, and planning had to be made in advance. Looks like somebody got paid to say this lie. Will this hate ever end…"