Kamala Harris has issued a strong seven-worded rebuke to Donald Trump’s recent claims that she “happened to turn Black” for political gain.
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Harris refused to engage with a question about Trump’s comments that she changed her identity to appeal to voters.
Shaking her head, Harris said: “Same old tired playbook. Next question please.”
Harris then declared “that’s it” in terms of her answering that specific question.
Newsweek has emailed both the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. In a CNN interview with Dana Bash, Harris branded Trump’s questioning of her racial identity as “tired” and “old.”
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
The prerecorded CNN interview—in which Harris was joined by her vice-president nominee Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz—was the first major interview that the current vice president has given since accepting the presidential nomination.
The Trump campaign has previously criticized the current vice president for not taking a probing interview.
Trump made the comments about Harris’ supposed racial identity pivot during an appearance with the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in July.
Responding to an interview question as to whether he agreed with Capitol Hill Republicans that Kamala Harris was a diversity, equity and inclusion hire, the former president said: “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?”
Trump continued: “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went—she became a Black person. I think somebody should look into that too.”
Another of the key moments during CNN interview was when Bash pushed Harris to explain why she had shifted her policies on some issues, such as immigration and fracking, since accepting the presidential nomination.
The Republican campaign has pointed out that Harris’s 2019 comments about banning fracking do not align with her campaign’s recent message that she would not ban fracking if elected to the White House.
During the 2020 presidential primaries, Harris declared that illegal border migration should be civil cases not criminal ones.
She has since toughened her decision and emphasized the importance of border-security, pledging to introduce a bipartisan border bill if she wins in November.
Responding to Bash’s questions on her changing policies and how voters should perceive them, Harris said: “I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed.”
Following the interview, the Trump-Vance campaign issued a statement that remarked: “Kamala said her values “have not changed” three separate times. She’s still a San Francisco radical.”
Trump also attacked the interview in a post on Truth Social, saying he agreed that Harris’ values hadn’t changed.
“The Border is going to remain open, not closed, there will be Free Healthcare for Illegal Aliens, Sanctuary Cities, No Cash Bail, Gun Confiscation, Zero Fracking, a Ban on Gasoline-Powered Cars, Private Healthcare will be abolished, a 70-80% tax rate will be put in place, and she will Defund the Police. America will become a WASTELAND,” wrote Trump.
During the interview, Harris also said she would appoint a Republican to the cabinet, to pursue a deal to end the war in Gaza and strengthen the middle class.
Bash also pressed Tim Walz on his 2018 reference to “weapons of war, that I carried in war” when speaking about gun violence.
Walz was in the Army National Guard but never served in a combat zone.
Asked about his comments, Walz admitted his grammar was “not always correct” and that he “owns” his mistakes when he makes them.
But, the Minnesota governor maintained: “I won’t apologize for speaking passionately, whether it’s guns in schools or protection of reproductive rights. The contrast could not be clearer. I think most Americans get it.”
In a direct rebuke to Republican vice-president nominee JD Vance, who said on the same day that Kamala Harris should “go to hell” for her role in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Walz said he would not insult Republicans.
