Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas defended former President Donald Trump’s remarks falsely questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ heritage Wednesday.
“It’s refreshing to see a presidential candidate who’s willing to go in front of the media, something that Donald Trump knew would be a tough interview. It turned out to be a hostile, adversarial interview, but he’s been doing that for nine years,” Cotton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.” “Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has been hiding out for the 10 days that she’s been a presidential nominee. Before then, she used to do interviews every five days or so, but now she hasn’t faced any media at all. I guess she thinks she can hide out for 100 days until this election.”
“The issue isn’t what race Kamala Harris identifies as, it’s the fact that she identifies as a San Francisco liberal,” Cotton continued.
Pressed on how Trump’s comments help the Republican Party win, Cotton claimed, “Donald Trump said that what matters is that she identifies as a dangerous San Francisco liberal, not what race she identifies as.”
Harris’ mother was Indian, and her father is Jamaican. She is the first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president.
Trump said earlier Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists convention that Harris “happened to turn Black” a few years ago, saying that “all of a sudden, she made a turn” in her identity.
Trump’s comments came after an interviewer asked him whether he agreed with Republicans on Capitol Hill who have characterized Harris as a “DEI hire.”
