Kamala Harris: ‘I do’ believe Trump is a racist

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris declared Tuesday that President Trump is a racist.

In a sit-down interview with The Root, the California Democrat said there’s no other conclusion one could draw from the president’s past statements, including his 2016 campaign announcement denouncing illegal immigration, his “both sides” remark regarding the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his alleged comments calling developing nations in Africa and Central America “s—-thole countries.”

“For the leader of the nation to equate the ’both sides’ gave me an incredible amount of pain and concern,” Mrs. Harris said of Charlottesville.

“If you actually are a leader, then you don’t condone and support and counsel hate,” she said. “You call bigotry what it is, you call racism what it is, you call violence what it is.”

“Is President Trump a racist?” The Root’s Terrell Jermaine Starr asked the senator.

“Well, look, when you talk about him calling African countries s-hole countries, when you talk about him referring to immigrants as rapists and murderers, I don’t think you can reach any other conclusion,” Mrs. Harris said.

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“So you definitely would agree that he’s a racist?” Mr. Starr pressed.

“I do, yes,” Mrs. Harris responded emphatically. “Yes. Yes.”

In the wide-ranging interview, Mrs. Harris also said she supports the decriminalization of sex work and endorses some form of slavery reparations for black Americans.

The Republican National Committee called the senator’s comments about the president “disgusting.”

“From historic lows in African-American and Hispanic unemployment to signing historic criminal justice reform into law, President Trump is fighting and delivering results for all Americans,” RNC spokesman Steve Guest said in a statement. “Kamala Harris’s disgusting attacks on President Trump are a desperate attempt to get attention for her 2020 campaign.”