Former President Donald Trump is not backing down from his assertion that Vice President Kamala Harris only recently began identifying as Black.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a picture of Harris with her Indian family and wrote, “Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated.”
On Wednesday, Trump visited the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago where he sat down for an interview.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott noted Republicans have attacked Harris as a “DEI hire” and asked if he finds that to be “acceptable language,” and if he would tell his supporters and members of his party to stop using that line of attack.
“Well, I can say, no, I think maybe it’s a little different. I’ve known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only Indian heritage,” Trump responded.
He went on:
“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?”
Scott interjected to note Harris has “always identified as a Black person” and went to a historically Black college. The vice president was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus while she was in the Senate.
Trump went on, “I respect either one. But she obviously doesn’t. Because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person.”