Vice President Kamala Harris' niece, Meena Harris, has hit back at former President Donald Trump, after he questioned her aunt's racial identity during an interview this week.
On Wednesday, GOP presidential nominee Trump made an appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention, where he sat down for an interview moderated by ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News host Harris Faulkner, and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba.
During the discussion, Scott asked Trump about Republican attacks accusing Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, of being a "DEI candidate." Critics have stated that the attack is racially charged, arguing that her previous positions as attorney general, senator and vice president qualify her for the position.
When Scott asked Trump if he believes Kamala Harris became the nominee only because of her race, Trump said he did not know she was Black for years.
"She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage," he said. "I didn't know she was Black until a couple 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 added. "But you know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she went—she became a Black person."
Over the years, Kamala Harris has openly spoken about being born in the U.S. to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father.
Trump's comments caught the attention of the vice president's niece, Meena Harris, who took to Instagram to share a post about him.
The author and lawyer posted part of Trump's quote that read: "So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?"
Adding a caption of her own, she wrote, "?????? weirdo."
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Trump via email for comment.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed Trump's remarks, saying in a press conference that his stance was "insulting."
"As a person of color, as a Black woman, who is in this position, that is standing before you at this podium, what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive," she said. "It's insulting, and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one's right. That is someone's own decision.
"I'll add this. Only she can speak to her experience. Only she can speak to what it's like. She's the only person that can do that, and I think it's insulting for anybody, it doesn't matter if it's a former leader, a former president, it's insulting."
For her part, Kamala Harris said at a campaign rally in Houston, Texas, that the former president's remarks were "the same old show."
"The divisiveness and the disrespect," she went. "And let me just say, 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," the vice president added. "We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us; they are an essential source of our strength."
Meena Harris has campaigned for the vice president throughout her political career, notably when she was running for president in 2020. In 2016, she worked as a senior adviser on policy and communications for her aunt's Senate campaign.
Her mom, Maya Harris, the vice president's younger sister, also worked in politics as an adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 2016 presidential run.
Meena Harris is also the CEO of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, under which her theater nonprofit operates and which "brings awareness to social and cultural causes," according to its website.
She has written four children's books, Ambitious Girl, A is for Ambitious, The Truth About Mrs. Claus and Kamala and Maya's Big Idea, inspired by her mother and aunt.
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