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Election 2024 updates: Trump attacked Black journalists at NABJ, Harris campaign says

The campaign said Trump showed the "hostility" he has throughout his life.

Last Updated: July 31, 2024, 6:19 PM EDT

Vice President Kamala Harris is moving full steam ahead in her bid for the White House.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have several campaign events set up this week as they aim their attacks on Harris.

Harris has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting, according to ABC News reporting.

4:24 PM EDT

'Trump showing exactly who he is at NABJ,' Harris campaign says

Michael Tyler, a spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, released a statement Wednesday responding to former President Donald Trump's interview at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago.

"The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people," he said.

"Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us," Tyler added.

"Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign. It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10," he concluded.

-ABC News' Mary Bruce

3:14 PM EDT

White House press secretary calls Trump's comments on Harris' race 'repulsive'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after he questioned Vice President Kamala Harris' race during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago.

Trump refused to answer a question by ABC News' Rachel Scott if Harris, who is Black and Indian, was a "DEI hire," an argument floated by some Republicans last week.

"She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “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. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?"

He later said, "I really don't know, could be, could be, there are some."

Jean-Pierre criticized those comments during the daily White House briefing that was going on at the same time.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2024.
Nathan Howard/Reuters

"As a person of color, as a Black woman who is in this position, that is standing before you at this podium, behind this lectern, what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive. It's insulting," she said. "And no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one's right. It is someone's own decisions."

Jean-Pierre added that Harris -- who attended Howard University, an HBCU, and was a member of the Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha -- is the vice president and said that people have to "put some respect on her name."

"It doesn't matter if it's a former leader, a former president. It is insulting. And we have to put -- she is the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name," Jean-Pierre said.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

10 hours and 17 minutes ago

UAW endorses Harris

The United Auto Workers International Executive Board voted Wednesday to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid.

"Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.

Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), is seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, March 14, 2024, in Washington.
Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed. This campaign is bringing together people from all walks of life, building a movement that can defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. For our one million active and retired members, the choice is clear: We will elect Kamala Harris to be our next President this November," he added.

-ABC News' Brittany Shepherd

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