Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) is defending former President Donald Trump for questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ heritage.
On Wednesday, Vance faced questions about Trump claiming Harris did not always identify as Black, in like of the fact he is the father of biracial children.
“I was not bothered at all by what President Trump said,” the Republican senator said. “And I didn’t take it as an attack on Kamala Harris’ biracial background at all. What I took it as is was an attack on Kamala Harris being a chameleon.”
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Vance went on:
“She pretends to be one thing when she’s in front of one audience. She pretends to be something else when she’s in front of another audience. And I think he was observing the basic foundational reality that Kamala Harris pretends to be something different depending on which audience she’s speaking to.”
He went on to accuse Harris of being a “chameleon” and changing her policy positions.
“Donald Trump said something very simple, totally inoffensive, but frankly obviously true to me, which is: Kamala Harris is a chameleon, she’s a fake, and the American people have to look at her record if we actually want to know how she stands on the issues because her word simply can’t be trusted,” Vance added.
Trump visited the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago last week and 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.
