Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., got into a heated exchange with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos Sunday morning over false claims former President Donald Trump made about Vice President Kamala Harris.
Stephanopoulos at one point interrupted Donalds during the broadcast of “This Week” to note that Donalds “repeated the slur” that Harris, whose father is Black and who has always identified as Black, only recently embraced that identity.
“When Kamala Harris went into the United States Senate, it was (Associated Press) that said she was the first Indian-American United States senator,” Donalds said. “It was actually played up a lot when she came into the Senate, now, she’s running nationally, obviously the campaign has shifted, they’re talking much more about her father’s heritage and her Black identity.”
Harris’ father is Black and her mother was Indian-American. Harris attended the historically Black Howard University, is a part of the historically Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. She has embraced her mixed-race identity on and off the campaign trail, frequently talking about both her parents and their heritage.
Donalds was asked on the program about inaccurate attack on Harris’ racial identity that Trump made in Chicago at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention.
“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,” Trump said on Wednesday. “Is she Indian or is she Black? 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.”
Stephanopoulos countered the insinuation that Harris’ identity is in question.
More: Trump questions Kamala Harris’ racial identity at NABJ, says she ‘happened to turn Black’
“You just repeated the slur again, if it doesn’t matter, why do you all keep questioning her identity?” Stephanopolous asked. “She’s always identified as a Black woman. She is biracial, she has a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She’s always identified as both, why are you questioning that?”
Donalds continued to slyly sow doubt around Harris’ identity on Stephanopoulos’ show, saying that many “people” are still questioning it.
“This is actually a conversation throughout social media right now, there are a lot of people who are trying to figure this out,” he said. “But that’s a side issue, not the main issue.”
Stephanopoulos then cut off Donalds to call out the repetition of the baseless smear.
“Sir, one second, you just did it again,” Stephanopoulos interjected. “Why do you insist on questioning her racial identity?”
Harris responds, and Christie’s take
Harris responded Wednesday in Houston addressing a crowd of members of a historically Black sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho.
“It was the same old show − the divisiveness and the disrespect,” she said.
Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey later appeared on Stephanopoulos’ show, saying that this attack is not surprising.
“This is how you can tell that this race is changing,” he said. “When Donald Trump is ahead, and he feels that he’s comfortably ahead, he’s willing to go with conventional, smart, political advice.”
The short time since President Joe Biden dropped his name from the ticket, Harris has seen a energized the Democratic base, enjoying record-breaking in fundraising.
“As soon as he thinks it’s getting close, he’s going back to the greatest hits.”
Polling shows that Harris has improved upon Biden’s chances of taking out Trump in November, some showing a deadlocked race between the two, others giving Harris a slight lead. Some polling suggests Harris will pull a higher share of Black voters than Biden and will see higher turnout among Black voters.
This, Christie said, is scaring Trump.
“This is who he is,” he said. “This is personal, he’s juvenile.”
— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA Today. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com, on X @woodyreports, or on Threads @samjowoody
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Stephanopoulos presses Trump ally Byron Donalds over Harris race smear
