Trump mocks Harris’s heritage: ‘She happened to turn Black’

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Former President Trump mocked Vice President Harris’s heritage during a live interview Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention, telling the Chicago gathering that “she happened to turn Black.”

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.

Trump attacks ABC News reporter during tense NABJ interview

“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.

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.”

Trump sat for an interview at the NABJ conference moderated by three journalists: ABC’s Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News host Harris Faulkner. 

His 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.

Trump opened his remarks by criticizing Scott for a “rude introduction,” a theme he repeatedly came back to during the event.

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Brett Samuels and The Hill

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