Trump says Harris opted to 'turn Black'

Chicago: Donald Trump questioned on Wednesday whether Democrat Kamala Harris is really Black or is using race as a political convenience in an intervi...

Chicago: Donald Trump questioned on Wednesday whether Democrat Kamala Harris is really Black or is using race as a political convenience in an interview that sent shockwaves through the 2024 presidential contest.

"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," Trump told a panel of interviewers at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago.

"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-heritage vice president in US history.

"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 became a Black person."

The provocative comments by the Republican presidential nominee were the latest in a stream of ratcheted up personal attacks by the 78-year-old on Harris, and follow his multiple remarks this week in which he accused Harris -- who is married to a Jewish-American -- of being anti-Semitic.