Vice President Harris’ campaign slammed former President Trump for displaying hostility and confusion onstage during an interview on Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.
The campaign’s statement did not focus on personal attacks on Harris, such as Trump’s comment that the vice president “just happens to be black,” but rather on her public interview in Chicago and her treatment of black journalists.
“The hostility that Donald Trump displayed on stage today is the same hostility he has displayed throughout his life, throughout his time in office and throughout his campaign for president as he sought to regain power and impose his harmful Project 2025 policies on the American people,” said Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris campaign.
During the NABJ interview, Trump clashed with ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, who cited conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama’s birthplace, Trump’s calls for some Democrats to “go back” to their countries of origin, and his meeting with white supremacists at Mar-a-Lago.
The former president said her questioning was “terribly delivered”, called ABC a “fake news station” and added that he had “done a lot for black people”.
“Just as he has done throughout his presidency, Trump has hurled personal attacks and insults at Black journalists, while he has failed Black families and left our entire country struggling to climb out of the hole he left behind,” Tyler said in a statement. “Today’s fiery denunciation is just a glimpse of the chaos and division that have characterized Trump’s MAGA rallies throughout the campaign.”
Tyler added that Trump should “show up” to the ABC-hosted debate scheduled for Sept. 10, after he has become increasingly cautious in recent days about a possible debate with Harris following the withdrawal of his former rival, President Biden, from the race.
Meanwhile, White House officials have focused their criticism of Trump’s NABJ interview on Harris’ comments about race and heritage.
Communications director Ben LaBolt said the former president had “come full circle” after “launching his national political career by saying Barack Obama was not American,” while spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called the comments “offensive” and “insulting.”
Ahead of the interview, Harris’ campaign called on journalists to expose Trump’s “lies.”
