Crockett condemns Trump’s racial comments: Imagine what he says ‘about the rest of us’

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) went after former President Trump on Saturday for his comments about Vice President Harris’ racial identity earlier this week during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago.

“The disrespect you saw on that stage with those journalists and the way he spoke to them, and the way he talks about our vice president, if he talks about the most powerful black woman in the world like that, just imagine what he says behind closed doors about the rest of us,” Crockett told MSNBC’s Alex Witt.

During the controversial NABJ interview, ABC News’ Rachel Scott pressed the GOP nominee on other Republicans’ comments 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.

In his response, Trump questioned Harris’ race and ethnicity.

“I’ve known her indirectly for a long time,” Trump began. “Not very directly.”

“She has always been of indigenous heritage. And she was just promoting indigenous heritage,” he continued. “I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago when she happened to become black. And now she wants to be known as Black.”

He added: “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or black?”

Crockett cringed at the comments, saying the rhetoric at the event represents “the same old Donald we saw.”

“For those black people who think Donald Trump really understands black culture or is fighting for us in some way, I’m here to tell you he doesn’t,” she said during the interview.

The former president also drew criticism from the White House for his attacks on Harris, who became the presumptive Democratic nominee on Friday.

“As a person of color, as a black woman… what he just said, what you just read to me, is repulsive, it is insulting and no one has the right to tell someone who they are, how they identify.” , the White House said. press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the first black woman to hold the position, said in response.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to Crockett’s comments in a statement to The Hill on Saturday.

“Great talk from a replacement for Kamala Harris, whose preferred candidate was too cowardly and cowardly—to even show up at the event,” he wrote in the statement.

NABJ came under scrutiny after announcing that Trump would attend the annual convention. While some said the event would offer black journalists the opportunity to grill the former president about how he plans to address the most pressing issues facing black voters, others expressed concerns about his past rhetoric both toward and around black Americans. from them.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story