Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough Democratic Party delegate votes to become the party's nominee when voting ends on Monday, according to the Democratic National Committee. And Harris is just days away from naming her running mate.
Former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, have spoken to voters across the country this past week as they sharpen their attacks on Harris.
Sen. Kelly calls Trump 'desperate scared old man' over NABJ remarks
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a vice presidential short-lister, criticized former President Donald Trump's comments at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention about Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday evening.
"I think those are the comments of a desperate scared old man, who over the last week especially has been having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor," he said.
"And his comments are not unexpected from him. We've seen this over since when, 2015 or so? So he's done this before he is not going to change it's pretty obvious to me why he is doing this," the senator added.
When asked by ABC News if he felt that Trump's comments were rooted in racism, Kelly responded, "I think it's who he is."
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Noah Minnie
Jul 31, 2024, 5:05 PM EDT
GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan slams Trump's NABJ Convention remarks
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running for Senate, came down on former President Trump's comments about Vice President Kamala Harris' race.
Former Maryland governor and and Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan speaks during a campaign event at the VFW Post 9619 in Morningside, MD, July 16, 2024.
Nathan Howard/Getty Images
"It's unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better," he said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
-ABC News' Rick Klein
Jul 31, 2024, 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
Jul 31, 2024, 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.
