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Kamala Harris’ potential vice presidential pick Mark Kelly has blasted Donald Trump for questioning her heritage, denouncing him as a “desperate and scared old man.”
Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on The Source, Kelly was asked for his reaction to Trump’s racially-charged comments at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on Wednesday where he claimed that Harris had “happened to turn Black” recently.
“It was very obvious to me watching him, and just what I’ve seen over the last week while she’s been across the country just kicking his butt, that he’s afraid,” said the Arizona senator.
“He’s afraid to debate her. He’s certainly afraid to lose an election to her in November, and he’s afraid about his own future.”
Kelly told reporters outside the US Capitol that the “overtly racist” comments are those “of a desperate, scared old man, who, over the last week especially, has been having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor, and I think he’s worried”.
Trump sparked gasps from the audience at the NABJ convention when he falsely claimed that Harris chooses her heritage when it suits her and questioned how she is both Indian and Black.
“She was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” the former president said.
“So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
His questionable comments have earned him a wave of backlash from across the political spectrum.
The Republican former governor of Maryland Larry Hogan said in an X post: “It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better.”
Trump and his vice presidential nominee JD Vance were already facing backlash this week after a 2021 video resurfaced showing Vance calling Harris and other Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.”
Suspense is mounting as to who Harris will select to be her running mate on the Democratic party ticket, with Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro believed to be on her shortlist.
Harris and her as of yet unconfirmed running mate are set to hold a campaign rally together in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
The location of the rally has fueled speculation that she plans to tap Shapiro for the role.
While Trump named Vance as his vice presidential pick back on July 15, he bizarrely downplayed the significance of the VP candidate on the election during his appearance at the NABJ.
“Virtually never has it mattered,” the 78-year-old-said. “You’re voting for the president. You’re voting for me.”
