Donald Trump questioned Vice President Harris’ identity, touted his record with the Black community and defended his pick for running mate during an often combative interview with three journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention on Wednesday.
ABC senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba and Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner interviewed Trump for less than an hour in a wide-ranging conversation. Even before Trump arrived, his invitation to speak at the convention had sparked pushback from some NABJ members.
NABJ has defended their decision to have Trump speak to its members. The organization said in a press release that they’re currently in talks to hold an interview with Vice President Harris.
Here are five memorable moments from Trump’s interview.
The former president questioned Harris’s racial identity, suggesting during the interview that she had initially only touted her Indian heritage but “happened to turn Black.”
“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,” Trump said, when asked if Harris was only on the Democratic ticket because she was Black.
“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,” he continued. “So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Harris is both Black and of Indian descent.
The former president was also asked about Republicans labeling Harris a “DEI hire,” a term that has drawn accusations of racism. DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I mean I really don't know. Could be, could be,” Trump said.
“There are some, and there are plenty,” he continued, before turning his attention to Faulkner.
Several Republicans, including Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), have used the term at the vice president. Burchett later said he regretted using it but argued “it was the truth.”
Asked about Trump’s comments about Harris’s racial identity, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that his remarks were “repulsive” and “insulting.”
“Only she can speak to her experience, only she can speak to what its like. She’s the only person who can do that. And I think it’s insulting for anybody… it is insulting,” she added. “She is the vice president of the United States… we have to put some respect on her name, period.
During the interview, Trump mentioned — and was asked to define — a term he has used in the past: “Black jobs.”
“I will tell you that coming — coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs. You had the best —” Trump said during the convention, before one of the moderators stopped him to ask what a “Black job” was.
“A Black job is anybody that has a job. That's what it is,” Trump replied, eliciting laughs from the audience. “Anybody that has a job.”
“They're taking the employment away from Black people,” he added, referring to undocumented immigrants.
The former president also used the term during his first debate with President Biden in June.
Trump was forced to defend JD Vance as his running mate as the Ohio senator faces criticism over some of his past comments.
Vance has come under heat in particular for previously saying that the US has been run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
Addressing those comments earlier in this month in an interview, Vance argued that he “explicitly said in my remarks — despite the fact the media has lied about this — that this is not about criticizing people who for various reasons didn’t have kids.”
“This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming antifamily and antichildren,” he added.
Asked about Vance’s comments, Trump defended his running mate.
“What he's saying is that he thinks the family experience is a very important thing,” Trump argued. “It's a very good thing. But that doesn't mean that if you grow up and you grow older and you don't meet somebody that would be wonderful to meet, it would have been good that that's a bad thing.”
The former president was also pressed on why he chose Vance and whether the Ohio senator would be ready “on Day One.” Trump appeared to downplay the importance of choosing his running mate in his response.
The back-and-forth came as some Republicans have suggested Trump made the wrong pick with Vance.
“I've always had great respect for him and for the other candidates, too,” Trump said on Wednesday. “But I will say this, and I think this is well documented, historically, the vice president in terms of the election, does not have any impact. I mean, virtually no impact.”
“You're voting for the president, and you can have a vice president who's outstanding in every way. And I think JD is, I think that all of them would have been but, but you're not voting that way. You're voting for the president,” he said.
Trump’s interview turned heated almost immediately once Scott began asking Trump several tough questions. The back and forth between the two of them at times grew terse during the conversation.
During her first question, Scott listed off remarks Trump had made to or about Black people and noted he had dined with a white supremacist, Nick Fuentes.
“So my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?” Scott asked Trump.
“Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked the question, so — in such a horrible manner,” Trump said. “First question, you don't even say ‘Hello.’ ‘How are you?’” he continued. “Are you with ABC? Because I think they're a fake news network, a terrible network, and I think it's disgraceful that I came here in good spirit.”
While the NABJ’s decision to interview Trump was seen as controversial by some of the organization’s members, it did generate a lot of attention.
It’s also sure to attract a lot of attacks against the former president, particularly given his remarks on Harris’s identity and the notion of a “Black job.”
“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,” Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement after the interview. “Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.”
Perhaps the one benefit Trump received from the event was the amount of buzz and chatter his interview received afterward, even if much of it was critical.
Following the event, the Trump campaign released a statement blasting certain segments of the media, arguing their coverage of the former president would ultimately help him.
“Today’s biased and rude treatment from certain hostile members of the media will backfire massively,” a campaign adviser said in the statement.
