White House calls Donald Trump ‘disgusting’ for saying Kamala Harris ‘became a black person’

The White House criticized Donald Trump on Wednesday for his comments about Kamala Harris’ race, calling his claim that she has “become a black person” “abhorrent.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre led the response from President Joe Biden’s administration. Jean-Pierre, a Black woman, said Trump’s comment was “offensive.” She also said Harris deserves “respect” as vice president.

“No one has the right to tell someone who they are, how they identify themselves,” said Jean-Pierre.

Trump, in a confrontational, testy interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, repeatedly questioned Harris’ racial background. His remarks drew muffled gasps from the audience of black reporters and resistance from the journalists onstage who were questioning him.

Trump began the interview with a dig at Harris, his Democratic rival: “She was all Indian and then she turned around and said, ‘She became a black person.’ I think somebody should look at that.”

Harris’ mother is South Indian and her father is from Jamaica. The vice president has always identified as both South Asian and black.

“I have respect for both of them. But she clearly doesn’t. Because she was all Indian and then all of a sudden she took a turn and she — she became a black person,” Trump said, a day after Harris attended a rally in Atlanta with prominent black lawmakers and cheering supporters.

“And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” he said of Harris, who is the first Black, female and South Asian vice president in U.S. history.

During Jean-Pierre’s press conference, NBC’s Peter Alexander read Trump’s words and asked the spokesperson for her reaction.

“Wow,” said Jean-Pierre.

She shook her head as Alexander read Trump’s words.

“What you just read to me is disgusting and insulting,” said Jean-Pierre.

She added: “It’s offensive to everybody, it doesn’t matter if it’s a foreign leader or a former president. It’s offensive.”

“She’s the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. We need to give her name some respect.”

Harris’ campaign condemned his comments.

“The hostility that Donald Trump displayed on stage today is the same hostility he has displayed his entire life, his entire term in office, and his entire campaign for president,” said campaign communications director Michael Tyler.

“Today’s tirade is just a taste of the chaos and division that has characterized Trump’s MAGA rallies throughout the campaign.”

Trump was in a fiery mood as he sat down with ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, Fox News host Harris Faulkner and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba.

The interview started almost an hour late, for conflicting reasons.

There were reports that the former president was unhappy with the NABJ for fact-checking his remarks in real time. Trump claimed this was because conference organizers were having problems with the audio equipment.

His comments during the interview sparked anger among black reporters.

Karen Attiah, a co-chair of this year’s NABJ convention who resigned after Trump’s appearance was announced, wrote on X during his interview, “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“I’m so angry right now. NABJ, this was a colossal mistake,” she added later.

April Ryan, a prominent Black journalist who covers the White House and dealt with Trump when he was president, wrote: “Trump came to our home, a Black Press Advocacy Convention, and insulted us to our faces. What’s worse, he was invited to do this by the leadership of the NABJ. Shame on him!”

Trump was also unhappy with reports that Harris would be allowed to address the group virtually.

Originally, both candidates were invited to appear in person. When Harris’ team said she could only do it virtually, organizers said no.

But when Black journalists attending the conference expressed outrage that Trump would address them but Harris — who would be the first Black female president if elected — would not, Harris was invited to do so via Zoom.

Trump reacted angrily to the news, indicating that he had been told to fly to Chicago.

“They told me and Crazy Kamala Harris you can’t do this event on ZOOM — it’s not allowed or acceptable! She refused and I’m getting ready to land in Chicago to be there. Now I hear she’s doing the event on ZOOM. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” he wrote on Truth Social.

It all left Trump visibly irritated.

He has played the race card before, most notably in the Barack Obama era, when he promoted a racist conspiracy about the former president.

Trump made a name for himself in national politics when he falsely claimed that Obama was born in Kenya.

When Trump appeared in Chicago on Wednesday, he was immediately angry.

ABC’s Rachel Scott, who asked him the first question, asked him about concerns black journalists had about his appearance, noting that he had criticized black reporters in the past.

“First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such an awful way before,” Trump told Scott.

“You don’t even say hello, how are you?” Trump railed, calling ABC a “fake news network.”

“I came here with a good feeling. I love the black people of this country,” he said.

“I think it’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that,” he said.

And he said this: ‘I am the best president for black people since Abraham Lincoln.’