White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre excoriated former President Donald Trump after he implied to a group of black journalists that Vice President Kamala Harris identified as black only for political gain.

Trump made the comments while being interviewed at the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago on Wednesday. He accused Harris, who is half Jamaican and half Indian, of only identifying as a black American later in her political career.

'Only she can speak to her experience. Only she can speak to what it's like.'

Jean-Pierre initially laughed about the comments and then lambasted Trump at the White House media briefing.

"As a person of color, as a black woman, who is in this position that is standing before you at this podium behind this lectern, what he just said, what you just read out to me, is repulsive. It’s insulting," she said.

"And no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify, that is no one's right. It is someone's own decision. I'll add this. Only she can speak to her experience. Only she can speak to what it's like. She's the only person who can do that," Jean-Pierre continued.

"And I think it's insulting for anybody, it doesn't matter if it's a former leader, a former president, it is insulting," she concluded. "She is the vice president of the United States. Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name. Period."

'I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black.'

Trump had a contentious time at the convention after accusing his host of being biased and of delaying the interview over problems with their electronic equipment. When he was asked whether he believed Harris was on the Democratic ticket only because she's a black woman, he mused about Harris' racial identity.

"I've known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much. And, she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage," said the former president.

"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 didn't know is she Indian, or is she black?" he added.

"She has always identified as a black woman," responded the interviewer.

"I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she became a black person. And I think somebody should look into that too, when you continue in a very hostile, nasty tone."

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