Former President Donald Trump suggested Vice President Kamala Harris had suddenly turned Black during an interview Wednesday at a convention for the National Association of Black Journalists.
Trump appeared on stage more than an hour late to take part in a conversation conducted by ABC News’s senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, and Semafor’s political reporter Kadia Goba.
Scott didn’t hold back when it came to asking Trump about his party’s attacks on Harris as a “DEI” candidate. “Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman?” Scott asked.
“Well, I can say no, I think it’s maybe a little bit different,” Trump said. “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. And now she wants to be known as Black.”
“So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump asked, noting that he’d respect “either one.”
“She was Indian all the way and then suddenly she made a turn and she became a Black person,” he said. The audience let out a collective gasp and incredulous laughs. He went on to criticize Scott for her “hostile, nasty tone,” before turning his attention to fawn over Faulkner.
Trump: I did not 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. Is she Indian or is she Black? pic.twitter.com/DIVy0mQL3I
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 31, 2024
As the interview proceeded, Trump was simultaneously fact-checked online in collaboration with Politifact. The slogan of the weekend’s convention was “Winds of Change: Journalism over Disinformation.”
Before the interview started, Trump posted on Truth Social, whining that he had to attend the event in Chicago, while Harris had opted to attend virtually.
“They told me and Crazy Kamala Harris that you could not do this Event with ZOOM—It is not allowed or acceptable! She declined, and I am getting ready to land in Chicago in order to be there. Now I am told that she is doing the Event on ZOOM,” Trump wrote. “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?”
