Donald Trump questions Kamala Harris’ race, attacks ABC News’ Rachel Scott during NABJ interview

CHICAGO — Former President Donald Trump spoke Wednesday at the annual National Association of Black Journalists Convention, where he attacked the first journalist who asked a question and denigrated Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity.

In a stunning exchange during a panel with three journalists, Trump questioned Harris’ Blackness because of her South Asian heritage.

“She was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person. I think somebody should look into that,” Trump said in a stunning exchange.

Harris, whose mother immigrated from India and whose father immigrated from Jamaica, would be the first Black woman to serve as president and also the first Asian American to hold the role. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black university, and pledged a Black sorority in 1986.

She embraces both identities and spoke at events targeting both Black and Asian American voters in Philadelphia this year, prior to President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.

The conversation was moderated by Rachel Scott of ABC, Harris Faulkner of Fox News, and Kadia Goba of Semafor. It was expected to tackle “the most pressing issues facing the Black communities,” according to an announcement from the association posted Monday.

Scott began with a question about Trump’s promotion of birtherism — or falsely claiming former President Barack Obama and Harris weren’t born in the United States (Obama was born in Hawaii, while Harris was born in California). Scott also asked about his past associations with white supremacists (Trump dined with Holocaust denier Nicholas Fuentes in 2022), and other documented instances of racism by Trump.

“I’ve never been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump said to Scott, ABC’s congressional correspondent.

Trump claimed NABJ caused him to be late and that he was brought to the conference under false pretenses, as he thought his opponent would be there as well.

“I think it’s a very rude introduction,” Trump said. “I don’t know why you would do something like this.” Trump then said he’s been the best president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln.

Nearly all of his comments drew groans and jeers from the crowd of mostly Black journalists.

Harris’ campaign criticized Trump’s remarks in a statement after the chaotic conversation concluded.

“The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life,” the statement said. “Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign.”

Trump’s appearance at the journalism convention preceded a rally in Harrisburg scheduled for that evening.

News of Trump’s presence at the NABJ conference was met with intense firestorm and divided public opinion, especially among Black journalists.

Karen Attiah of the Washington Post posted to X (formerly Twitter) that she was stepping down as co-chair of the convention following the news. “While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format.”

NABJ President Ken Lemon defended the decision by highlighting that the group extends offers to Republican and Democratic candidates each year, and its website states political speakers have been bipartisan.

According to The Grio’s April Ryan, NABJ was in contact with Vice President Kamala Harris’ team, but Harris could not accommodate an in-person talk and offered a virtual fireside chat, which organizers rejected. Lemon said in a statement that Harris wouldn’t be available even virtually during the conference.

Trump fielded questions about his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, defending the Ohio Republican and attempting to clean up Vance’s comments on women without children.

Vance in 2021 called Democratic women, including Harris, “childless cat ladies” and implied the votes of people with children should be more heavily weighted. Trump tried to walk the comments back, saying that people who don’t have children are still good people.

In addition to his comments’ about Harris’ racial identity, Trump made other incendiary comments, including a claim that Latin American immigrants were taking “Black jobs.”

Asked about whether he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters who were filmed attacking police officers and convicted, he said “yes, if they’re innocent.”

Trump had an apparent affinity for Fox News host Faulkner, complimenting her several times, in stark contrast to his dismissal of ABC correspondent Scott. His tone toward Semafor’s Goba was neutral.

The talk ended with cheers and claps, along with shouts of “you’re a liar” and other jeers.

Many attendees were unhappy with Trump’s performance at the convention, though most were not comfortable going on the record.

“He’s the same way today as he was yesterday as he’s going to be in the future,” said Patricia Duncan, a freelance journalist from Denver. “If you’re going to be a presidential candidate you need to have a little bit more class, and he showed none today.”

Allison Joyner, a freelance journalist who was open to the idea of Trump’s appearance, left disappointed.

“I had high hopes that he was going to take asking for our vote seriously,” Joyner said, “but I didn’t feel like that.”

Whether or not NABJ should have hosted Trump isn’t a partisan issue, but an issue with that particular candidate, said Jelani Cobb, a prominent writer at the New Yorker and dean of Columbia Journalism School.

“I don’t think that you interview that person in the same way,” Cobb said after Trump’s Q&A. “I think that this format lends itself to the mass production of disinformation and misinformation.”