JD Vance shuts down CNN reporter when asked about Trump's Kamala comments: 'She's a chameleon'

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JD Vance, at US-Mexico border, slams Biden-Harris administration policies

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance says during visit to U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona that Kamala Harris 'needs to change course.' (Credit: CNN Pool)

Sen. JD Vance fired back at a CNN reporter who asked him whether former President Trump's comments about Kamala Harris' race were concerning to him as a "father of three biracial children."

Vance visited the U.S. southern border on Thursday where he attacked Harris' record as the border czar during a press conference in Cochise County, Arizona. At one point on the trip, CNN correspondent Steve Contorno asked the vice presidential contender about Trump's comment a day earlier, when he told a crowd at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention that Harris "became a Black person," after years of identifying as Indian.

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"He [Trump] said that Vice President Harris is ‘all the sudden Black.' As a father of three biracial children, do those comments give you pause at all?" the CNN correspondent said in a clip shared on X.

Vance is married to attorney Usha Vance, a daughter of Indian immigrants, with whom he shares three biracial children. 

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance hugs his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance during the Republican National Convention Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

"They don't give me pause at all," Vance fired back. "Look, all he said is that Kamala Harris is a chameleon. She goes to Georgia two days ago, she was raised in Canada, she puts on a fake southern accent. She is everything to everybody and she pretends to be somebody different depending on which audience she is in front of.

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"I think it's totally reasonable for the [former] president to call that out," Vance continued. "And that's all he did. Look, she's running as a tough on crime prosecutor even though she implemented open border policies. She's saying that she wants to support the police, yet she wanted to defund the police just three years ago. It's totally reasonable to call out the fact that she pretends to be somebody different depending on the audience she's talking to."

Trump made the comment Wednesday after ABC News’ Rachel Scott asked the former president if he agreed with Republican lawmakers who have characterized Harris as a "DEI," or diversity, equity and inclusion, hire. 

"I've known her for a long time, indirectly, not directly… and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage," Trump said. "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?"

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Westover High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on July 18, 2024.  (ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)

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Scott then told Trump that Harris has always identified as Black, adding she went to a "historically Black college."

"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," Trump said. "I think somebody should look into that."

This comes as Harris faced a wave of criticism on social media after appearing to suddenly use a Southern accent during a speech in Atlanta, as referenced by Vance.

"You all helped us win in 2020 and we gonna do it again in 2024," Harris, who is from California, told Atlanta rally goers while seemingly debuting the new accent.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate J. D. Vance (Fox News)

The accent immediately caught the attention of critics online, who accused the presumptive Democratic nominee of pandering to her audience.

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Fox News' Michael Lee contributed to this report.