US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Kamala Harris has labelled comments by Donald Trump to black journalists as divisive and disrespectful.

Trump repeated a number of false claims regarding immigration, abortion, and Harris’s racial identity.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.

I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln.

Some Republicans have labelled Harris, the first Black and Asian American woman to serve as Vice President, a “DEI hire”, meaning Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.

After arguing with the interviewer over the meaning of those words, he said: “Could be. There are some.

“[Harris] was always of Indian heritage and she was always 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,” he said.

“I respect either one but she obviously doesn’t.”

Responding to a DEI question at the NABJ conference, former President Trump tells Black journalists:

Kamala Harris "was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person."https://t.co/E0kGuRQ86A pic.twitter.com/p8lnb0M4n5

— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 31, 2024

Trump also alleged that Harris “didn’t pass her law exam”, which he was corrected on in real time.

Trump accused the interviewer of using a “hostile, nasty tone” when asking questions.

False

Attempting to appeal to the room, Trump said there are “millions” of people “coming from the border” who are “taking black jobs”.

Before he was last elected president he promised to “build a wall” to keep migrants out, which he did not do.

On reproductive rights – one of the hot topics of this election – he falsely said that the Democratic Party is “allowing the death of a baby after the baby is born” and “abortion in the ninth month”.

On his running mate JD Vance’s controversial view that those with children should have more votes than those without, Trump said: “It’s not something I’ve ever heard before.”

"The American people deserve better," VP Harris says of former President Trump's comments at the National Association of Black Journalists. "The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth ... who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts." pic.twitter.com/6x8vt9nJd5

— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 1, 2024

Harris said Trump’s interview was “the same old show” and perpetuated “divisiveness and disrespect”.

“The American people deserve better. The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.

“We deserve a leader that understands that our differences do not divide us.”

Trump’s White House bid was thrown into chaos last month when President Joe Biden, 81, withdrew his candidacy, backing Harris as the Democratic nominee.

Since then, Harris has seen her favorability ratings jump and raked in over $200 million in campaign donations.