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Asked whether Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee because she is a Black woman, Donald Trump said Harris “happened to turn Black” after “she was always of Indian heritage.” Harris is Black and South Asian.
Trump made the remarks at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago during an interview with Semafor’s Kadia Goba, ABC News’ Rachel Scott, and Fox News’ Harris Faulkner.
The former president offered no evidence for his false implication that Harris was hiding something about her ethnic background. She is a graduate of Howard University, the most famous of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black,” he said. “So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?”
He added that: “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn, she went —she became Black. Somebody should look into that.”
At a news briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the former president’s remarks as “repulsive.”
“It’s insulting,” Jean-Pierre said. “She is the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name.”
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The View From The Harris campaign
In a statement released after the interview, the Harris for President communications director Michael Tyler said Trump’s hostile demeanor on stage is “is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president.”
“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler said.
“Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign. It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.”
Notable
- In response to a question from Semafor’s Kadia Goba, Trump weighed in on the police shooting of unarmed Black woman Sonya Massey and seemed to temper his past comments on immunity for police.
- During the same interview, Trump said his VP pick, JD Vance, “has no impact” on his chances of winning the election.