(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday told a conference of Black journalists that Vice President Kamala Harris was “always of Indian heritage” until “she happened to turn Black.”

Trump attended a Q&A session Wednesday at a gathering of Black journalists in Chicago. His comments were a response to a question about some Republicans’ efforts to minimize Harris’ title as the nation’s first Black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice president on a major party ticket.

Some of her detractors allege Harris was a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) “hire.”

“Is that acceptable language to you, and will you tell those Republicans and those supporters to stop it?” ABC News’ Rachel Scott asked.

“How do you define ‘DEI’?” Trump replied.

“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump continued. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian or is she Black?”

His comments elicited groans from the crowd, who were gathered for the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair. Outside, a group of protestors gathered to denounce Trump and Israel’s war in Gaza.

After the Q&A, Trump took to social media and doubled down. The former president shared a video of Harris and actor, producer, writer and comedian Mindy Kaling talking about their shared South Indian roots. He seemingly shared the video as proof of his false claims that Harris is not Black.

“Crazy Kamala is saying she’s Indian, not Black. This is a big deal. Stone cold phony. She uses everybody, including her racial identity,” he wrote.

The vice president did not deny in the video that she is also Black.

Harris campaign Communications Director Michael Tyler fired back at Trump, saying the “tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies…”

“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler wrote in an official statement.

Harris has always been both Black and Indian American. Her race and ethnicity have never been a secret. Headlines announcing the results of the 2020 election results lauded her as the nation’s first-ever woman, Black, and Asian-American vice president of the United States.

Similar recognition would be true if Harris were to win the 2024 presidential election, for which she is the presumptive Democratic nominee.

She recently emphasized the impact of Black women voters during her keynote address in front of the historically Black Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. While pursuing her education, Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college and university (HBCU), where she became a member of the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. She also served as the president of the Black Law Student Associaton at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, formerly UC Hastings.  

Harris has said her mother raised her and her sister as Black because she felt that was how the world would see them first, the Associated Press reported.

“Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us,” Tyler wrote.