Karine Jean-Pierre Torches Trump Declaring Kamala Harris ‘Turned Black’ at Wild NABJ Conference: ‘Put Some Respect on Her Name’
(Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned former President Donald Trump claiming Vice President Kamala Harris “turned Black” just moments after he made the comments at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago.
Trump’s appearance at the NABJ meeting became contentious only moments in when he claimed that Harris “turned Black.”
“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,” he said. “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 then all of a sudden, she made a turn, she went — she became Black. Somebody should look into that.”
In a Wednesday press conference, Jean-Pierre was informed of Trump’s full quote just moments before, and she reacted at first with a shocked laugh.
“He is a candidate so I’m going to be super careful,” she said.
The press secretary condemned the former president’s comments as “repulsive” and “insulting.”
“As a person of color, as a Black woman who is in this position, who is standing her before you behind this podium, behind this lectern, what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive, it’s insulting, and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify, that is no one’s right,” she said.
Jean-Pierre accused critics like Trump of peddling in petty insults and not respecting Harris as the vice president of the United States.
“Only she can speak to her experience. Only she can speak to what it’s like. She’s the only only person who can do that. And I think it’s insulting for anybody, doesn’t matter if it’s a former leader, a former president, it is insulting. She is the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris,” she said. “We have to put some respect on her name.”
Watch above via The White House.
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