CHICAGO, Aug 1, (AP): Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared Wednesday before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in an interview that quickly turned hostile.
The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage.
"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. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said while addressing the group's annual convention.
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the US. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a S senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting legislation to strengthen voting rights and to reform policing.
Trump has leveled a wide range of criticism at Harris since she replaced President Joe Biden atop the likely Democratic ticket last week. Throughout his political career, the former president has repeatedly questioned the backgrounds of opponents who are racial minorities.
Michael Tyler, the communications director for Harris' campaign, said in a statement that "the hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power.”
"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. "Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.