Harris blasts Trump attacks on her heritage as ‘same old show of divisiveness’ at Texas sorority event: Live

Primarily due to sharp questioning by ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, former president Donald Trump’s appearance before a gathering of Black journalists turned remarkably contentious on Wednesday.

Scott pressed Trump on past statements about Black leaders, his support for 6 January 2021 rioters and diversity hiring — leading the former president to repeatedly complain about how he was treated.

“She was very rude,” the former president said, pointing at Scott.

Scott, ABC News’ senior congressional reporter and a campaign correspondent, has worked at ABC News since 2016, her visibility increasing lately when she anchored the network’s live coverage of president Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race.

In her first question, Scott referred to the controversy over Trump’s appearance, and specifically cited several Trump statements about Black leaders in the past, including his false accusations about former president Barack Obama’s birthplace, and rude remarks to members of Congress, district attorneys and journalists.

“Now that you are asking Black voters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you’ve used language like that?” Scott asked.Trump immediately went after the questioner.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner, a first question,” he replied. “You don’t even say ‘hello, how are you.’ Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network.”

When Trump began talking Wednesday about what his administration did for Black Americans, Scott attempted to cut him off, saying, “Mr President, I would love for you to answer the question on your rhetoric and why you believe Black voters can trust you for another term.”

Trump said he was doing so, and made a claim he’s made before, that he was the best president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln.“Better than President Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act”? Scott asked.

Scott then asked whether Trump backed supporters who suggested that his Democratic opponent, vice president Kamala Harris, was a DEI hire, leading to a back-and-forth between them over what the phrase — for diversity, equity and inclusion — meant.

“Do you think vice president Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she’s a Black person? Scott asked, leading to Trump’s most newsworthy statements of the session, questioning Harris’ racial background.

Donald Trump has claimed that Kamala Harris would be treated as a “play toy” by world leaders because of “how she looks” in the latest misogynistic comments to emerge from his camp.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded with disbelief when she was asked about Donald Trump’s latest remarks about vice president Kamala Harris, falsely accusing her of misleading voters about her race.

“Wow”, said Ms Jean-Pierre, before calling his comments “repulsive”.

“It’s insulting and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify.”

Trump has repeatedly attacked his opponents and critics on the basis of race. He rose to prominence in Republican politics by propagating false theories that president Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, was not born in the United States.

“Birtherism,” as it became known, was just the start of Trump’s history of questioning the credentials and qualifications of Black politicians.

He has denied allegations of racism. And after Mr Biden picked Ms Harris as his running mate four years ago, a Trump campaign spokesperson then pointed to a previous Trump political donation to Ms Harris as proof that he wasn’t racist.

“The president, as a private businessman, donated to candidates across all aisles,” the spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, told reporters. “And I’ll note that Kamala Harris is a Black woman and he donated to her campaign, so I hope we can squash this racism argument now,” she said.

During this year’s Republican primary, he once referred to former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, as “Nimbra”.

“I didn’t know she was Black,” he said on Wednesday. “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? … I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way and all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person.”

Rudolph, 51, who was a regular cast member on the NBC sketch series from 2000 to 2007, made one of several returns to the show in 2019 where she debuted her portrayal of the VP.

Inga Parkel has the story.

At a rally in Texas Kamala Harris smiled and laughed as she addressed racist remarks made by Donald Trump at an event in Chicago.

Referring to Trump’s presidency, she said: “We all remember what those four years were like, and today, we were given another reminder.

“This afternoon Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, and it was the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect.

“And let me just say the American people deserve better… The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth who does not respond with hostility when confronted with the truth…that understands that our differences do not divide us.”

The Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, slammed Trump during a fundraiser in Maine for the former president’s comments about his wife’s racial identity.

“A worse version of an already horrible person,” he said regarding Trump, according to The Washington Post.

“The insults, the BS, shows a lack of character—but it’s a distraction,” he added.

While two top advisers to the former president claimed victory in a statement that blustered about the fates of any Republican who falsely claimed to speak for Donald Trump, the Harris campaign and even the Heritage Foundation said that the bulk of Project 2025’s work would continue.