The remark about Navalny being part of the original negotiations didn't come from an official source, it may have been speculative. Apparently they started all of this while he was still alive, so it is a reasonable premise. I heard another description of the process involving messages passed between spies and couriers, it wasn't just diplomats seated around a table.

Trump speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists was more of his intentional stagecraft; he never intended to answer questions. He accused them of being late and rude, claimed he was the best president for Blacks since Abraham Lincoln, but as a talking head pointed out this morning, if the first question had been "Good to see you, how are the wife and kids?" he would have had the same answers. Trump’s hostility to Black journalists renews questions over how news media should cover his rhetoric His goal is to make noise and distract from Harris.