Harris calls Trump ‘racist’ during ’60 Minutes’ interview: ‘It all speaks for itself’

Listing Charlottesville, his Muslim ban and talk about Mexicans, to Harris, his racism is obvious.

Senator Kamala Harris, who could be the next vice president of the United States, has definitively stated that she believes that President Donald Trump is racist. 

In an interview with CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell for the network’s venerable 60 Minutes, Harris was asked, “Do you think the president is racist?” 

“Yes, I do,” she responded immediately, with a slight laugh

“Yeah. I do,” Harris said. “You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first Black president of the United States.” 

Harris was referring to the “birther” theory, something largely championed by Trump, which claimed that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, thus, he was never eligible to be president. 

Read More: Trump walks out of ’60 Minutes’ interview, does not film with Pence

Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution details the requirements for serving as president of the United States, under clause 5: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.” 

For several years before running for president, Trump pressed for Obama to release his birth certificate. Ultimately, the former president released a copy of his long-form document. 

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During his presidential campaign in 2016, Trump finally admitted “President Barack Obama was born in the United States.” 

More recently, Trump revisited those notions, pushing the idea that Harris was also ineligible for the presidency because her mother was an immigrant. 

Read More: Trump says GOP retaining Senate will be ‘very tough’

Following her nomination to the vice presidency by Joe Biden, Trump said, “I just heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements and by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer.”

The August 2020 opinion piece Trump referenced was written by John Eastman, a law professor at Chapman University in California, and has been widely debunked. 

Read More: NYPD officer suspended for blasting ‘Trump 2020’ from patrol car

In her 60 Minutes interview, Harris said, “You can look at Charlottesville when there were peaceful protesters, and on the other side, neo-Nazis, and [Trump] talks about fine people on either side,” referring to the 2017 violence between white nationalists and left-leaning counterprotesters. “Calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. His first order of business was to institute a Muslim ban. It all speaks for itself.”

Biden, in his talk with O’Donnell for 60 Minutes, made it clear why he chose her as his running mate.

http://twitter.com/Obscurenyc/status/1320589254377037824

In recent rallies, Trump has pushed against the idea of a possible Harris presidency. 

At a rally in Florida on Friday night, he said, “We’re not going to be a socialist nation. We’re not going to have a socialist president, especially a female socialist president.”

“We’re not going to have it,” he told his supporters. “We’re not going to put up with it.”

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