Former President Donald Trump insisted he “doesn’t care what she is” when asked about his questioning of Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity, prompting the Democrat to respond it’s a “tragedy” that someone so divisive wants to be president.
ABC News moderator David Muir asked Trump why he feels it’s appropriate to weigh in on Harris’ racial identity, referring to Trump’s comments at a conference for the National Association of Black Journalists in which he asked, “Is she Black?”
“I don’t and I don’t care,” Trump shot back at the moderator with a shrug. “I don’t care what she is. I don’t care. You make a big deal out of something, I couldn’t care less. Whatever she wants to be is OK with me.”
Trump’s response elicited a smile from Harris, as he continued, “All I can say is I read where she was not Black. That she put out. And I’ll say that. And then I read that she was Black. And that’s ok. Either one was OK with me. That’s up to her.”
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Harris looked down at the podium as she was asked for her response.
“Honestly I think it’s a tragedy,” she said. “That we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
She said she believes most people think they have more in common than what separates them.
“We don’t want this kind of approach that is constantly trying to divide us,” she said. “And especially by race.”
Harris attacked Trump, saying he was once investigated for refusing to rent to Black families, took out a full page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of the Central Park five, and who has promoted “birther” attacks against former President Barack Obama.
“I think the American people want better than that,” she said.
