Crockett condemns Trump's race comments: Imagine what he says 'about the rest of us'

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) on Saturday criticized former President Trump for comments he made earlier this week about Vice President Harris’ racial identity during a panel discussion at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago.

“The disrespect he had towards reporters onstage, the way he spoke to reporters and the way he talked about the vice president. If he’s going to talk like that about the most powerful black woman in the world, imagine what he’s going to say about us behind closed doors,” Crockett told MSNBC’s Alex Witt.

During the controversial NABJ interview, ABC News’ Rachel Scott pressed the GOP candidate about comments by other Republicans that Harris was a “DEI hire,” which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, and that she was elevated to the top of the Democratic field solely because of her race and gender.

In his response, Trump questioned Harris’ race and ethnicity.

“I’ve known her indirectly for a long time,” Trump began, “though I don’t know her very often directly.”

“She’s always been Indian, and she’s just advertised that she’s Indian,” he continued. “I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago, when she happened to be black, and now she wants to be known as black.”

He added: “So I don’t know if she’s Indian or black.”

Crockett was disgusted by the comments, saying that the comments made at the event represent “the same Donald we’ve seen all along.”

“To any black people who think that Donald Trump really understands black culture or is fighting for us in any way, I would say that he doesn’t,” she said in the interview.

The former president also faced strong backlash from the White House over his attacks on Harris, who became the presumptive Democratic nominee on Friday.

“As a person of color, as a Black woman, I find his comments, what you just read to me, offensive and offensive, and no one has the right to dictate to another person who they are or how they identify,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the first Black person to hold the position, responded.

Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chang responded to Crockett’s comments in a statement to The Hill on Saturday.

“Kamala Harris’ surrogates made big bangers, but her chosen candidate was too timid and cowardly to even show up to an event,” he said in a statement.

The NABJ came under intense scrutiny after President Trump announced he would attend its annual conference, with some saying the event would be an opportunity for Black journalists to grill the former president about how he plans to address the most pressing issues facing Black voters, while others expressed concern about his past behavior toward and around Black Americans.