JD Vance shuts down CNN reporter when asked about Trump’s Kamala comments: ‘She’s a chameleon’

Senator J.D. Vance President Trump hit back at a CNN reporter about whether Kamala Harris’ comments about race were of concern to him as a “father of three biracial children.”

Vice President Vance visited the US southern border on Thursday, where he attacked Harris’ record as border chief during a press conference in Cochise County, Arizona. During the visit, CNN correspondent Steve Contorno asked the vice presidential nominee about comments made the previous day by Trump at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention, where he told an audience that Harris had long identified as Native American but had “become black.”

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“he [Trump] “Vice President Harris said, ‘Suddenly I’m black,'” the CNN correspondent said in a video shared on X. “As a father of three biracial children, do you feel any discomfort with those kinds of comments?”

Vance is married to lawyer Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, and they have three mixed-race children.

“They don’t hold me back at all,” Vance fired back. “Look, all he said is that Kamala Harris is a chameleon. She went to Georgia two days ago, but she grew up in Canada and has a fake Southern accent. She’s everything to everyone and pretends to be someone else depending on the audience she’s in front of.”

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“I think that’s entirely reasonable. [former] “They should have called on the president to point that out,” Vance continued. “And that’s just what he did. She’s running as a tough-on-crime prosecutor, even though she implemented an open borders policy. She says she wants to support the police, yet just three years ago she wanted to defund the police. It’s perfectly reasonable to point out the fact that she pretends to be different people depending on who she’s talking to.”

Trump made the comments on Wednesday after ABC News reporter Rachel Scott asked the former president whether he agreed with Republican lawmakers who have described Harris as a “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) hire.

“I’ve known her for a long time. Not directly, but indirectly… she’s always been Indian and she’s just promoted her Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I only found out she was black a few years ago, when I happened to be black. And now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know if she’s Indian or black.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event at Westover High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on July 18, 2024. (Alison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images)

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Scott then told Trump that Harris has always identified as black and attended a “historically black college.”

“I respect both women, but she’s clearly not that, because she was Indian all along, and then all of a sudden she turns around and becomes … black,” Trump said. “I think somebody should look into that.”

This comes shortly after Harris faced a wave of criticism on social media after she suddenly appeared to adopt a Southern accent during a speech. In Atlanta, as Vance mentioned.

“You helped us win in 2020 and we’re going to win again in 2024,” Harris, a California native, told rally-goers in Atlanta, appearing to debut her new accent.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance (Fox News)

The accent quickly attracted the attention of online critics, who said the pronunciation was Democratic candidate She pandered to her audience.

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Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report.