Rep. Byron Donalds calls controversy over Trump’s comments on Harris’ race

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, on Sunday sought to dismiss the controversy surrounding Trump’s comments on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity.

“This is really a phony controversy,” the Florida congressman said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t really care, most people don’t, but if we’re going to be accurate, when Kamala Harris went into the United States Senate, it was AP that said she was the Indian American United States senator.”

“It was actually played up a lot,” Donalds continued, citing an Associated Press article from 2016 that called Harris both the first Indian woman elected to a Senate seat and the second Black woman.

“Why do you keep questioning her identity?,” Stephanopoulos asked. “She’s always identified as a Black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She’s always identified as both.”

The two went back and forth in a heated exchange before Donalds said Trump’s speech Saturday wasn’t about the controversial take.

“He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta for what, two minutes,” Donalds responded, adding that Trump “spent more than 35, 40 minutes going after her record.”