Byron Donalds: Trump’s comments on Harris’ race are ‘a side issue’
Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican and top Trump ally, on Sunday dismissed the recent controversy surrounding the former president’s comments about Vice President Kamala Harris’ race.
Donalds gave a tense interview to “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos about comments Trump made at the National Association of Black Journalists conference last week in which he falsely said that Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, only recently began identifying as black.
“She’s biracial. She has a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, she’s always identified as both. Why are you questioning that?” Stephanopoulos asked Donalds on Sunday.
“Well, George, first of all, this is a topic that’s being discussed a lot on social media right now. A lot of people are trying to figure this out. But again, that’s a side issue, not the main issue,” Donalds said, referring to Harris’ record in President Joe Biden’s administration.
The exchanges lasted several minutes, with Stephanopoulos asking Donalds why Republicans were having this conversation about Harris’ race in the first place.
“Why do you insist on questioning his racial identity?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“He talked about it yesterday on stage in Atlanta for what, two minutes? He spent over 35, 40 minutes criticizing her record, talking about what a radical senator she was,” Donalds said. “He talked about the job she did as vice president of the United States.”
Donalds also defended Trump for saying he would pardon rioters who participated in the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
The former president raised eyebrows when he said at last week’s conference that he would pardon those who attacked police officers if they were found “innocent” — prompting ABC News’ Rachel Scott to point out that many had in fact been convicted.
Donalds clashed with Stephanopoulos over the wording of Trump’s response, but insisted the former president would not pardon people who attacked law enforcement officers.
“Of course, if someone beat up a police officer on January 6, it is [Trump] “I’m not going to do that. But if you had people just walking around the Capitol, which is what happened on January 6th, because the security protocols had changed because of that riot at the Capitol, then what he would do is not allow them to be held in jail with these dramatically increased charges,” Donalds said.
“My question is about the rioters who attacked the police officers. Would you pardon them?” Stephanopoulos replied. “They are not innocent. They are convicted. He said he would pardon them.”
“George, what I’m saying to you is he’s going to go back and look at these cases, because there’s no question that January 6th is a very painful memory in our country. But there’s no question that the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia pushed these people to behave excessively because of their political views,” Donalds said.
Donalds claimed that Trump had been treated differently than Biden or other Democrats by the Justice Department, leading Stephanopoulos to point out that Hunter Biden, the president’s son, had also been indicted by the Justice Department.
