Harris takes a question about her identity as an opportunity to examine Trump’s record on race

By Char Adams, NBC

Donald Trump doubled down on questioning Kamala Harris’ race during Tuesday night’s presidential debate and refused to acknowledge his past comments about her identity.

Trump said “I don’t care what she is” when moderator David Muir asked him why he believed it was appropriate to weigh in on Harris’ heritage. 

“Whatever she wants to be is OK with me,” Trump said. When Muir referred to Trump’s comments last month claiming Harris “turned Black” for political gain, Trump said, “I don’t know.” 

“All I can say is I read where she was not Black that she put out. I’ll say that. And then I read that she was Black, and that’s OK. Either one was OK with me.”

Trump made the initial comments in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. 

“She was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said then. “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.”

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In response, Harris said Tuesday that Trump had a divisive history with race that she described as “tragic.” She highlighted that Trump discriminated against Black people looking to live in one of his father’s buildings. And she chided him for calling for the “Exonerated Five,” previously known as the “Central Park Five,” to face the death penalty. 

“I think the American people want better than that, want better than this,” Harris said.

Read more about Harris’ response.

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