Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said he doesn’t think former President Trump will bring up Vice President Harris’s “identity” at the presidential debate Tuesday evening.
Donalds joined CNN’s Boris Sanchez on Tuesday where he was asked if Trump would follow up on Harris’s challenge to say his remarks about her race to her face.
Sanchez was referring to comments Trump made at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, where he said he didn’t know if Harris was Black because in the past she’s only emphasized her Indian heritage. He said she “happened to turn Black.”
Harris responded to the uncertainty about the presidential debate and Trump’s previous comments by saying that if he had something to say, he should “say it to my face.”
Donalds said he doesn’t expect Trump to talk about Harris’s race at the debate because it is an issue “nobody even really cares about.”
“He mentioned it once, he hasn’t mentioned it again. What Donald Trump is focused on is the American people,” Donalds said.
The Florida lawmaker said Trump would likely talk about the border, the economy and foreign policy.
“Those are the things he’s going to say to her face. He’s not talking about her identity,” he said.
Sanchez pushed back on Donalds saying Trump is the one who brought race into the election with his remarks at the convention. Donalds countered, saying it was ABC’s Rachel Scott, who moderated the event, that brought it up.
Sanchez said Scott was quoting Republicans who criticized Harris over her race. Donalds pointed out that Trump is hosting rallies and participating in media interviews, and he has yet to talk “about her identity” during them.
The CNN anchor said Trump has likely stopped talking about Harris’s race because he received so much pushback for his comments at the conference.
Trump’s remarks drew criticism from both sides of the aisle.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said Trump should focus more on policy than race in the campaign against Harris and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), a senate candidate, said the comments were “unacceptable and abhorrent.”
