Trump falsely attacks Kamala Harris over race, saying she "happened to turn Black"

Former President Donald Trump launched a racially insensitive attack against presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Wednesday, falsely questioning her racial background in a contentious appearance in Chicago.

During a panel discussion at the conference of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Republican nominee for president said his opponent for the White House "happened to turn Black" a number of years ago.

Asked about some Republicans labeling Harris as a "DEI hire," Trump, after bickering with ABC's Rachel Scott over the definition of DEI, responded: "I've known [Harris] 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?" 

Scott tried to interject. 

"But you know what, I respect either one, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't," Trump said of Harris. "Because she was Indian all of the way, and then all the sudden, she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person — and I think, I think somebody should look into that, too, when you ask, continue in a very hostile, nasty tone." 

Harris' mother is originally from India, and her father is from Jamaica. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, a historically black school in Washington, and belongs to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country's oldest Black sorority. She was also the president of the Black Law Students Association while studying at the University of California's law school in San Francisco, and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus during her time in the Senate.

Trump came to prominence politically by falsely questioning President Barack Obama's heritage.

Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said 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."

"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 said. "Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us."

Trump also repeated his line from his debate against President Biden about undocumented immigrants taking so-called "Black jobs."

"My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking frankly, a lot of problems with it, but one of the big problems and a lot of the journalists in this room I know and I have great respect for, a lot of the journalists in this room are Black," Trump said. "I will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs —"

"What exactly is a Black job, sir?" ABC's Rachel Scott pressed. 

"A Black job is anybody that has a job, that's what it is," Trump said, to some laughs from the crowd. 

At the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to Trump's jab at Harris, calling the former president's comments "insulting." 

"As a person of color, as a Black woman, who is in this position that is standing before you at this podium, behind this lectern — what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive, it's insulting," Jean-Pierre said. "No one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one's right. It is someone's own decisions. It is — I'll add this — only she can speak to her experience."

During the NABJ panel, Trump also said he wasn't sure of the "exact case" of Sonya Massey, the unarmed Black woman who was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy in her Illinois home. The deputy, Sean Grayson, has been charged with first-degree murder. During rallies, Trump has suggested that police officers should receive "federal immunity."

"I don't know the exact case but I saw something, and it didn't look — it didn't good to me, it didn't look good to me," Trump said, to audible gasps from some in the crowd. 

A panelist asked Trump why the officer should receive immunity in this case. 

"Well, he might not. I mean, it depends, it depends on what happens," Trump responded.