In a heated sit down at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump falsely accused Vice President Kamala Harris — the first Black vice president in U.S. history — of only starting to identify as Black in recent years for political expediency.
Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican-American immigrant father and an Indian-American immigrant mother, identifies as both Black and Asian-American, attended a historically Black university, joined a Black sorority at Howard University and served as the president of the Black Law Students Association at the University of California College of the Law. As a senator, she was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Trump made the remark as he was responding to a question about his fellow Republicans calling Harris a “DEI hire” and whether he believed Harris “is only on the [Democratic] ticket because she’s a Black woman.”
“I can say no, I think it's maybe a little bit different. So I've known her a long time indirectly, not directly, very much, and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black,” Trump said to audible gasps from the audience of Black journalists. “And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
“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 and I think someone should look into that,” Trump added, before attacking ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott for what he described as her “hostile, nasty tone” as she queried him.
He went on to say Harris “could be” a “DEI hire” and later falsely claimed Harris didn’t pass her bar exam and speculated she wouldn’t pass a cognitive test.
Speaking to the historically Black Sigma Gamma Rho sorority just hours later, Harris addressed Trump’s appearance at the NABJ convention, calling it the “same old show" of “divisiveness” and “disrespect" from the ex-president.
“And let me just say, the American people deserve better, the American people deserve better,” Harris said. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.”
“We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us, they are an essential source of our strength,” she continued.
Harris Wednesday night framed her comments on Trump’s NABJ convention appearance as an example of how this election is about a fight for the future as opposed to a return to the past – a contrast she has sought to draw since becoming the likely Democratic nominee just over a week ago.
“As a person of color, as a Black woman… what you just read out to me, is repulsive, is insulting and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing as Trump was still on stage.
There was debate within the ranks of the NABJ over whether it made sense to invite Trump — who has a history of racist attacks on Black politicians, journalists and even children, from his 1989 demand that five teenagers who were ultimately exonerated be executed after they were falsely accused of raping a woman in New York City’s Central Park to his key role in the spread of the “birtherism” conspiracy theory that falsely posited President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
Scott opened up the discussion by acknowledging those concerns from her colleagues, noting the NABJ has invited major party presidential candidates each election year since 1976.
“I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room, sir. A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congressmen of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from. You have used words like animal and rabid to describe Black district attorneys. You attacked Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions that they asked are, quote, stupid and racist. You've had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar a Lago resort,” Scott said as Trump sat down on the stage. “So my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should black voters, after you have used language like that?”
Trump repeatedly lobbed attacks Scott — one of the conversation’s three moderators along with FOX News host Harris Faulkner and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba — calling her “very rude,” “nasty” and “disgraceful” and said he’s never “been asked a question in such a horrible manner” after the first question of the sit down. He also insulted the NABJ, accusing them of delaying the conversation due to audio problems and claiming he was invited “under false pretense” because Harris, who was also invited, did not attend.
Scott said the NABJ are in conversation with Harris’ campaign to organize a conversation with her either in person or virtually in September. She said the conversation with Trump, which started about an hour late, was supposed to go an hour, but Trump’s campaign cut it short about 30 minutes after it began.
Trump also struggled to answer a question about Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman from Illinois who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy earlier this month. The sheriff’s deputy, Sean Grayson, was fired and charged with first-degree murder. Trump said he wasn’t intimately familiar with the case, but said he “saw something and it didn’t look good to me.” When asked why he supports immunity for law enforcement officers even in cases like this, Trump said “it depends on what happens” and then began talking about crime in Chicago.
When pressed by Goba to address his stance on police immunity, Trump said “there's a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. But if somebody made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person.” When asked why his well-documented skepticism of prosecutors who have charged him with crimes in recent years doesn’t apply to law enforcement, Trump argued he was the subject of political persecution and then complained about ABC News’ coverage of the investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Later, as questions turned to his self-portrayal as a candidate of “law and order,” Trump said he would pardon those convicted of crimes for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and memorialized Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police as she attempted to climb through a broken window within the Capitol building into the Speaker’s Lobby. Now-Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican who witnessed the shooting, said at the time that the officer who shot Babbitt “didn’t have a choice” and believed his actions saved lives.
“Oh absolutely I would, if they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump said, adding those convicted of crimes “were convicted by a very, very tough system.”
“You went after the J6 people with a vengeance,” he said.
In the three and a half years since Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the Electoral College and keep the then-president in power, more than 1,470 people have been charged with crimes, 873 have pleaded guilty and 182 have been found guilty at trial, according to the Department of Justice. More than 530 have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including more than 155 people charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. Around 140 police officers were assaulted that day. Far-right gang members and white supremacist militia leaders are among those serving prison time for crimes connected to the assault, including for seditious conspiracy.
At the NABJ conference, Trump was also pressed on his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s disparaging comments about Americans without children (“he is very family oriented, and he thinks family is a great thing”) and his own comments claiming undocumented immigrants are “taking Black jobs.” (“A Black job is anybody that has a job, that's what it is,” Trump said.)
Trump also made comments seeming to downplay the importance of a running mate and vice president.
“Historically, the choice of a vice president makes no difference. You're voting for the president, and you can have a president who is outstanding in every way. And I think JD is,” the Republican presidential nominee said. “But you're not voting that way. You're voting for the president. You're voting for me.”
As he pushed to appeal to Black voters, Trump said “I love the Black population of this country” and argued “I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country,” citing legislation that became law during his first term to create tax breaks for investments in low-income areas championed by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Black Republican, and investments his administration made in Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” Trump boasted, before launching into an attack on ABC News journalist Rachel Scott, who grilled the Republican ex-president during Wednesday's event, and the NABJ conference as a whole.
In a statement, Harris' campaign said Trump's rhetoric on Wednesday shows "exactly who he is."
"The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people," Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said.
"Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in," Tyler continued. "Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us."
Tyler also, echoing Harris, continued to challenge Trump to debate in the wake of his recent evasion.
"Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign," Tyler said. "It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.”
Spectrum News' Maddie Gannon contributed to this report.