Former President Trump mocked Vice President Harris’s heritage during a combative live interview Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention, telling the Chicago gathering that “she happened to turn Black” in recent years.
ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Trump on comments from other Republicans that Harris was a “DEI hire,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, and was only elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket because of her race and gender.
“I’ve known her a long time indirectly. Not directly very much,” Trump said.
“She was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting 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,” Trump said.
“So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?” he continued.
“She has always identified as a Black woman,” Scott interjected.
“But you know what, I respect either one. But she obviously doesn’t. Because she was Indian all the way then all of a sudden she made a turn. And she became a Black person. And I think somebody should look into that,” Trump said, criticizing Scott’s “hostile” and “nasty” tone.
Harris is Indian American and African American. Her mother emigrated from India, and her father emigrated from Jamaica. She also attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., where she was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other Democrats were quick to denounce Trump’s comments.
“I’ll tell what it is not: It’s not surprising,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said. “This is who Donald Trump is. This is the politics of insult, of revenge and resentment and retribution.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Trump’s comments “repulsive” and “insulting.”
The Harris campaign called Trump’s appearance on Wednesday “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,” communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. “All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.”
Wednesday’s remarks were not the first time Trump or his allies have questioned or attacked Harris’ biracial background.
Donald Trump Jr. in 2019 shared and later deleted a tweet from a right-wing account that claimed Harris was “not an American Black.”
Trump himself in 2020 floated the false theory that Harris might not be eligible to serve as vice president because her parents were immigrants. He has previously pushed the false conspiracy theory that former President Obama was not born in the United States, and he questioned Nikki Haley’s eligibility to serve as president during the GOP primary.
Trump was interviewed Wednesday by three journalists: ABC’s Rachel Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News host Harris Faulkner. Trump’s appearance was delayed by more than an hour because of technical issues on site, and the interview itself was frequently tense.
Trump opened his remarks by criticizing Scott for a “rude introduction,” a theme he repeatedly came about to over the event’s first 30 minutes.
He was asked about his references to “Black jobs,” was pressed on his pledge to pardon those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was questioned about whether his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), would be ready to serve as president on day one.
“I was invited here and I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here. You invited me under false pretense,” Trump said.
Organizers said they are working with Harris to arrange an in-person or virtual appearance during their September gathering.
Trump’s appearance at the event sparked backlash from several Black journalists, who questioned why the organization would invite the former president given his attacks on the press and journalists of color in particular.
Organizers have defended the decision to invite Trump, citing the value of interviewing a leading candidate for the White House.
Scott opened the event by noting Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about immigrants and people of color. She noted Trump has spread the birther conspiracy about former President Obama, he called for certain Democratic lawmakers to “go back” to countries they came from, and he met with a white supremacist at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
Trump was defiant following his appearance at the NABJ convention, which ended after roughly 35 minutes on stage.
“The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!” he posted on Truth Social.
His campaign, meanwhile, attacked what it called ‘liberal mainstream media malpractice” and accused the press of seeking to divide the country after some commentators asserted the appearance was a setback for Trump and his White House bid.
“Members of the media need to make a decision, and answer if their goal is to unite the Country or further divide us, because based on the unhinged and unprofessional commentary directed toward President Trump today by certain members of the media, many media elites clearly want to see us remain divided. This is unacceptable,” Trump campaign senior adviser Lynne Patton said in a statement.
This story was updated at 4:59 p.m.