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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Former President Donald Trump questioned why Vice President Kamala Harris "turned Black" while answering a question about whether he believed she was only at the top of the Democratic ticket because of her race.
"She was always of Indian heritage, and she was always 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 while answering questions at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference on Wednesday. "So, I don't know. Is she Indian or is she Black?"
Moderator and ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, who asked Trump the question, pushed back on his claims, telling the Republican nominee: "She's always identified as a Black woman. She went to a historically Black college."
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Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She has said that her mother deliberately raised her and her sister as Black because of how the world would see them. She also attended Howard University, an HBCU in Washington, D.C.
"I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't," Trump told Scott about Harris' two racial identities. "Because she was Indian all the way and all of a sudden she made a turn and she went—she became a Black person. I think somebody should look into that too."
The audience was heard gasping and booing as he responded to Scott's question.
Asked if he thought Harris was a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hire, Trump responded, "I don't know. Could be. There are some." The answer came after repeated attempts from Scott to ask Trump about the DEI claims that his supporters have made about Harris. Trump did not immediately reply, instead asking Scott for an explicit definition of the term before she rephrased and asked if Harris was only on the ticket because she is a Black woman.
The last-minute announcement that Trump would partake in an in-person question-and-answer at the conference in Chicago was met with fierce backlash from some of the NABJ's members. Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah stepped down as the co-host of the conference on Tuesday.
The appearance began with a heated exchange between Trump and Scott. Scott, who was one of three moderators, began by asking Trump about his birtherism conspiracies about former President Barack Obama, his use of the word "animal" to describe Black prosecutors, and meetings with white supremacists, among other actions and comments.
In response, Trump criticized the line of questioning, telling her, "I don't think I've ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner."
"You don't even say hello, how are you? Are you with ABC because I think they're a fake news network," Trump said to loud boos in the crowd. "I think it's disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population in this country. I've done so much for the Black population in this country."
He then went onto take issue with the fact that Harris wasn't present for the Q&A, which he said was one of the circumstances under which he agreed to attend.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to Trump's remarks during her briefing, which began minutes after the NABJ panel, saying that it was "repulsive" and "insulting" for Trump to question Harris' Black identity and that he has "no one has any right to tell someone who they are."
"She is the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name, period," Jean-Pierre told reporters.
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