Republican Congressman Byron Donalds, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, on Sunday dismissed the former president’s attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity, calling it a “side issue” even though Trump has delved into the issue.
The prominent Florida lawmaker appeared on ABC News’ “This Week” with host George Stephanopoulos in a testy interview in which he was asked about Trump’s recent comments at the National Association of Black Journalists.
Trump went after Harris at the event last week, claiming she only recently started identifying as black. He said she “just happened to turn black.”
“Why is President Trump questioning the racial identity of the vice president?” Stephanopoulos asked Donalds.
“This is really a fake controversy. I don’t really care. Most people don’t,” Donalds responded. “But if we’re to be accurate, when Kamala Harris entered the United States Senate, it was [Associated Press] who said she was the first Indian-American senator in the United States.’
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) battles ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos over Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks on Kamala Harris’ racial identity
Donald falsely claimed that it was only when she was campaigning nationally that her father’s heritage and her black identity were discussed.
When Harris was elected to the Senate, multiple news stories made headlines about the milestone: she was the first Indian American ever elected to the Senate. However, she also identified as Black.
“You just repeated the insult. If it doesn’t matter, why do you all keep questioning her identity?” Stephanopoulos pushed back. “She’s biracial. She has a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. She always identifies as both. Why are you questioning that?”
“Well, George, first of all, this is something that is a conversation going on on social media right now. There were a lot of people trying to figure this out,” Donalds replied. “But again, that’s a side issue, not the main issue.”
Stephanopoulos interrupted him and indicated that he was questioning her racial identity again within two minutes, as the two spoke over each other.
“Why do you keep questioning her racial identity?” he shot back. “I want you to answer my question.”
“George, now that you’re done yelling, let me answer that. He spoke about it yesterday on the stage in Atlanta for, what, two minutes? He spoke about her record for over 35, 40 minutes, saying how radical she was as a senator,” Donalds said.
Trump first questioned Harris’ identity at the NABJ event in Chicago on Wednesday, where he said:He was all Indian and all of a sudden she took a turn and became a black person. I think someone should look into that.’
Trump said of Harris at an event in Chicago on July 31: “She was Indian from start to finish and all of a sudden she took a turn and became a black person.”
Some Republicans have doubts that the former president will continue this line of attack and are urging the campaign to talk more about the issues.
But Trump doubled down on the issue at his rally Wednesday night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, before bringing it up again Saturday night in Atlanta.
“So it’s okay to question someone’s racial identity, even for a few minutes?” Stephanopoulos asked Donald.
“George, I’m going to tell you again, he brought it up. AP is the one that wrote the headline when she first came into the United States Senate. It didn’t say she was black. It said she was the first Indian-American senator,” Donalds said.
When Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016, AP reported‘Harris will enter the House as the first Indian woman elected to a Senate seat and the second Black woman, following Carol Moseley Braun, who served one term after being elected in 1992.’
Stephanopoulos pointed out that Donald Trump questioned Harris’ identity three times in his answers, saying, “You just can’t say it’s wrong.”
Donalds again falsely claimed that it was the AP that denied her racial identity as black, claiming that “those are the facts.” He insisted he would rather talk about the future of the country.