Harris: Trump ’empowers white supremacists’

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Thursday President Trump is empowering white supremacists. 

The Democratic presidential candidate told CNN in an interview on her campaign bus that she agrees with her primary opponent and former Vice President Joe Biden’s earlier remarks that Trump is “encouraging” white supremacists. 

“The sad thing about this is it’s no longer really a debatable point. There is just a long list of statements and tweets and behaviors from this president that make it very clear that he possesses hate and that he is divisive and that he is a racist,” Harris said.{mosads}

CNN asked Harris if it is important to call Trump a white supremacist. 

“I think it’s important to call it what it is which is that we have a president of the United States who does not reflect the values of who we are as a people, he is someone who empowers white supremacists and who condones their behavior, and that is not the kind of president that I think most Americans can be proud of, much less support,” she responded. 

Harris stopped short of calling Trump a white supremacist, but suggested CNN should “ask him that.” 

“I’d be interested to see what his answer is,” she said.

“I think you should ask him that question,” Kamala Harris says when asked if she thinks President Trump is a white supremacist pic.twitter.com/EtVE9AbUiC

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 8, 2019

Other 2020 candidates, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D), have called Trump a white supremacist. 

The Democratic attacks follow the El Paso, Texas, shooting Saturday that killed 22 people. The suspected gunman in the shooting allegedly wrote a manifesto describing fears of a Latino “invasion.” 

Trump defended his immigration rhetoric against criticism that it inspired the attack. He told reporters earlier this week his rhetoric “brings people together.”