Leaked document reveals Donald Trump's prepared answers for questions at black church

Ahead of a visit to a black church, Donald Trump and his team are leaving nothing to chance.

The Republican candidate is due to visit the Great Faith Ministries International church in Detroit on Saturday and hold a question-and-answer session with its minister. The conversation will be shown on television later.

But Mr Trump’s campaign has not only ensured that all the questions were known in advance; they also carefully scripted his responses about topics such as the brutal treatment of black suspects by some police officers.

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“I want to make race disappear as a factor in government and governance,” Mr Trump is due to say at some point.

The New York Times said it obtained a leaked document showing the 12 questions Bishop Wayne T Jackson, the pastor, intends to ask Mr Trump in the taped session, along with the New York tycoon’s answers.

The proposed answers were devised by aides working for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, according to an official.

Mr Trump could come up with his own responses and forgo the prepared answers when he speaks to Mr Jackson, though the report said his aides will also help edit the interview before it airs on the clergyman’s Impact Network. The session is not on Mr Trump’s official schedule and is not open to the public or the media.

Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign, told the newspaper that Mr Trump was also planning to address the congregation for between five and 10 minutes after the interview, an apparent change to the original plan. Mr Trump will then visit various Detroit neighbourhoods with Ben Carson, a one-time campaign riva lwho grew up in Detroit and who now supports Mr Trump.

“If you know anything about Mr. Trump, it’s that he will want the opportunity to take his vision and message of opportunity directly to the people on Saturday,” Mr Miller said .

The visit to Detroit comes as Mr Trump has been trying to appeal directly to African American voters. A Public Policy Polling survey published this week showed Mr Trump had a near zero per cent favourability rating among black voters, with 3 per cent unsure and 97 per cent unfavourable.

His appeals to black voters have been dismissed as patronising and offensive. He has frequently said they have "nothing to lose” by voting for him.

“You’re living in poverty, you have no jobs, your schools are no good,” he said at one recent rally. “If you keep voting for the same people, you will keep getting exactly the same result.”

The report said that when Mr Trump is asked about his vision for black Americans, he will stay positive and use lines such as: “If we are to make America great again, we must reduce, rather than highlight, issues of race in this country.”

To a question submitted by Mr Jackson about whether his campaign is racist, the script suggests that Mr Trump avoids repeating the word, and instead speaks about improving education and getting people off welfare.

“The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding,” Mr Trump is advised to say.

Perhaps the most important question Mr Trump is to face, is scheduled as the first and asks Mr Trump whether he is a Christian, if he believes in the Bible and is inspired by the word of God.

“As I went through my life, things got busy with business, but my family kept me grounded to the truth and the word of God,” Mr Trump has been told to say.

“I treasure my relationship with my family, and through them, I have a strong faith enriched by an ever-wonderful God.”