Washington DC [US], August 1 : Former US President Donald Trump launched a strong personal attack on Vice President and rival in the upcoming presidential polls, Kamala Harris, by claiming that she, after being of "Indian heritage" for years, "turned Black" a few years ago, CNN reported.
He further claimed that Harris "all of a sudden, made a turn" in her identity and wants to be known as black.
Trump made the comments at a gathering of black journalists in Chicago when an interviewer asked him why black voters should consider backing a candidate with his history of racist attacks on political rivals.
Trump responded by questioning Harris' heritage.
"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?" CNN quoted him as saying.
"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," he said. "I think somebody should look into that too."
Notably, Trump has made similar comments in the past as well. For years, he pushed the "birther" conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, according to CNN.
Kamala Harris is of Indian origin. Her mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican; both immigrated to the United States. She was born in Oakland, California, and attended a historically black university, Howard University, in Washington.
She is the first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president. Also, if she wins the upcoming polls, she will become the first woman president of the country.
Last week, President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and nominated his deputy, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic nominee for the race.
Harris' takeover has re-energised the Democratic campaign that had faltered following Biden's performance in the presidential debate against Trump, leaving the party in doubt about Biden's chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue in the White House if he had won.
Harris rapidly consolidated support among Democrats in the hours after Biden stepped aside, and she raised more than USD 200 million in her first week as a presidential candidate.
The White House was quick to denounce Trump's comments, calling it "insulting" and said only VP Kamala Harris can speak for herself on the matter.
"As a person of colour, as a black woman, who is in this position, standing before you, at this podium...what he said is insulting," White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre said at the briefing on Wednesday (local time).
"No one has any right to tell someone, who they are, how they identify, that is no one's right. It is someone's own decision," she added.
"Only she (Kamala Harris) could speak up to her experience, only she can speak up to what it's like, she is the only person that can do that. I think it's insulting for anybody, doesn't matter if it's insulting for a foreign leader, a former president, it is insulting...she is the Vice President of the United States, we have to put some respect to her name," Jean-Pierre further asserted.
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