CHICAGO– CHICAGO (AP) — donald trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris misled voters about her race when the former president appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago on Wednesday in an interview that quickly turned hostile.
The former Republican president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice presidentin the past it has only promoted its Indian heritage.
“I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago when she became black and now wants to be known as black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or black? Trump said while speaking at the group’s annual convention.
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the USA. 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 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting her colleagues’ legislation to strengthen voting rights and reform policing.
Trump has launched a wide range of criticisms of Harris since she replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the presumptive Democratic ticket last week. Throughout his political career, the former president repeatedly questioned the background of opponents who are racial minorities.
Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris campaign, said in a statement that “the hostility Donald Trump demonstrated on stage today is the same hostility he has demonstrated throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power.”
“Trump hurled personal attacks and insults at Black journalists in the same way he did throughout his presidency — while failing Black families and leaving the entire country digging itself out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler said. he can’t unite America, so he tries to divide us.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during her briefing with reporters Wednesday about Trump’s comments and responded with disbelief, initially muttering, “Wow.”
Jean-Pierre, who is black, called what Trump said “disgusting” and said, “It’s an insult and no one has the right to tell someone who they are and how they identify.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked his opponents and critics on the basis of race. He rose to prominence in Republican politics by propagating false theories that President Barack Obama, the country’s first black president, was not born in the United States. “Birterism,” as it became known, was just the beginning of Trump’s history of questioning the credentials and qualifications of black politicians.
He denied accusations of racism. And after Biden chose Harris as his running mate four years ago, a Trump campaign spokesperson pointed to a previous political donation from Trump to Harris as proof that he was not racist.
“The president, as a private businessman, has donated to candidates across the aisle,” spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told reporters. “And I note that Kamala Harris is a black woman and he donated to her campaign, so I hope that we can crush this racism argument now,” Pierson said.
During this year’s Republican primaries, he once referred to former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, as “Nimbra.”
Trump’s appearance on Wednesday at the annual gathering of black journalists immediately became heated, with the former president arguing with ABC News interviewer Rachel Scott and accusing her of giving him a “very rude introduction” with a first tough question about his past criticism of black people. and black journalists, his attack on black prosecutors who brought cases against him, and the dinner he had at his Florida club with a white supremacist.
“I think it’s shameful,” Trump said. “I came here with a good spirit. I love the black population in this country. I did a lot for the black population of this country.”
Trump continued his attacks on Scott’s network, ABC News, which he has argued should not host the upcoming presidential debate despite its previous agreement with the Biden campaign. He also repeatedly described her tone and questions as “nasty,” a word he has used in the past when describing women including Hillary Clinton and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
The Republican also repeated his false claim that illegal immigrants in the country are “taking black jobs.” When pressed by Scott about what constituted a “black job,” Trump responded by saying that “a black job is anyone who has a job,” drawing groans from the room.
At one point he said, “I was the best president for black people since Abraham Lincoln.”
The audience responded with a mixture of boos and some applause.
Scott asked Trump about his pledge to pardon people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and specifically whether he would pardon those who assaulted police officers.
Trump said, “Oh, I would definitely do that,” and he said, “If they were innocent, I would pardon them.”
Scott stressed that they were convicted and therefore are not innocent.
“Well, they were convicted by a very, very strict system,” he said.
At one point, when defending his supporters who entered the Capitol on January 6, he said: “Nothing is perfect in life.”
He compared the 2021 insurrection to the protests in Minneapolis and other cities in 2020 following the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and to most recent protests at the Capitol last week by protesters opposing the war in Gaza. Trump falsely claimed that no one was arrested at these other demonstrations and that only his supporters were targeted.
As Trump made the comparison, a man in the back of the room shouted, “Sir, aren’t you ashamed?”
The former president’s invitation to speak at the organization sparked an intense internal debate within the NABJ that spread online. Organizations of black journalists typically invite presidential candidates to speak at their summer meetings in election years.
As he campaigns for the White House for the third time, Trump has sought to appear outside his traditional strongholds of support and his campaign has praised his efforts to try to win over black Americans, who have been the Democrats’ most committed voting bloc.
His campaign has emphasized his messages about the economy and immigration as part of his appeal, but some of his outreach has relied on racial stereotypes, including the suggestion that African-Americans sympathize with the criminal charges he faced it’s him brand sneakers promotion.
Trump and NABJ also have a tense history over their treatment of black journalists. In 2018, the NABJ condemned Trump for repeatedly using words like “stupid,” “loser” and “nasty” to describe black journalists.
The vice president is not scheduled to attend the convention, but the NABJ said in a statement posted on X that it was in conversation with her campaign to have her attend virtually or in person for a conversation in September.
Trump posted on social media that he was told he could not hold the event virtually.
“She declined and I am getting ready to land in Chicago to be there,” Trump wrote. “Now they told me that she is doing the Event on ZOOM. WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?”
Trump hosted a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday at which he repeatedly mispronounced Harris’ name.
Before taking the stage, Trump’s team displayed what appeared to be years-old headlines describing Harris as the “first Indian-American senator” on the arena’s big screen.
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New York reported price. Associated Press writers Aaron Morrison and Steve Peoples in New York, Gary Fields in Chicago and Will Weissert and Farnoush Amiri in Washington, and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
