Days after President Donald Trump criticized Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s VP choice to join the Democratic presidential ticket, he’s now floating a new birther conspiracy about the California Senator.
During a news conference at the White House on Thursday, Trump noted that Harris might not meet the requirements to become the first Asian/Black American vice president, MSN reports. His comments come a day after it was revealed that before he entered the political arena, Trump contributed financially to Harris’ past campaigns, per PEOPLE.
According to the California Secretary of State website, Trump gave $5,000 to Harris during her bid for attorney general in 2011, prior to her becoming a senator. In 2013, he donated $1,000 during her reelection. His daughter Ivanka also contributed $2,000 for Harris’ reelection campaign in 2014.
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Harris served as California’s attorney general from 2011-2017, and was then elected to the Senate. During her Senate campaign, Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, reportedly donated $2,000.
Funny enough, a spokesperson for Harris told The Sacramento Bee last year that she donated Trump’s $6,000 to a nonprofit that helps Hispanics and immigrants.
“Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams told McClatchy that Harris donated the $6,000 Trump had contributed to a nonprofit that advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans,” wrote reporter Emily Cadei. “But that donation wasn’t made until 2015, a year after she won her reelection for attorney general and as she was launching her run for the Senate.”
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In July, Trump called Harris “a fine choice” by Biden, when it was rumored that she was on his shortlist of VP picks. But immediately after Biden named her as his running mate on Tuesday, Trump slammed Harris for being “nasty” and a “radical.”
He also reminded reporters that during the Democratic primary campaign, Harris was “disrespectful” to Biden.
Trump questioned her eligibility to run on Thursday, after it was falsely claimed that Harris wasn’t born in this country.
The president, who led the “birther” movement against former President Barack Obama, referred to “highly qualified, very talented lawyer” John Eastman, a Chapman University professor, who raised the issue about Harris’ eligibility in a Newsweek article.
“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Trump said told reporters. “I have no idea if that’s right. I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.”
Officials from Joe Biden’s campaign fired back at the president’s remarks. Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for Biden, called Trump “the national leader of the grotesque, racist birther movement with respect to President Obama and has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart on every single day of his presidency.”
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