'They're going to engage in lies': Kamala Harris on Trump's birther remarks

Presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris has said US President Donald Trump and his campaign will presumably "engage in lies" and "deception" after he floated a fringe legal theory last week about her eligibility to serve as the vice president of the United States.

 

The incumbent US president, in his campaign tirade against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, had amplified the theory about the latter's running mate that critics decry as racist.

 

"They're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the American people. And I expect that they will engage in dirty tactics. And this is going to be a knockdown, drag-out. And we're ready," Harris told media outlet TheGrio in an interview released on Sunday.

 

If elected, Harris would be the first Black and South Asian American vice president.

 

The conspiracy theory about Harris started following a Newsweek Op-Ed by Dr John Eastman, who ran in the Republican primary to be California's attorney general in 2010. Eastman, who lost the race to Harris, a Democrat, said that there are some questions about the eligibility for the position. The theory was also circulated on social media.

 

The Biden campaign called opinion piece racist.

 

"I just heard that. I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements and by the way the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified very talented lawyer. I have no idea if that's right," Trump, who has pushed similar conspiracies about former President Barack Obama, said in response to a question during a press conference at the White House on Thursday.

 

On Saturday, Trump called him a "brilliant lawyer."

 

Eastman, on the other hand, received resounding criticism for the article. 

 

Newsweek editors have since apologised, writing, "This op-Ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologise."

 

Kamala Harris, however, is no stranger to accusations about her race.

 

Speaking to TheGrio in an interview taped on Saturday, she said, "I'm very clear-eyed about the fact that they are going to engage, as you said, in what they have done throughout his administration, which is, let's just be very candid and straightforward: They're going to engage in lies. They're going to engage in deception."

 

"Nothing that we have ever achieved that has been about progress has come without a fight," she later added.

 

"There's no question that we need immediate change and drastic change and that's so much of what the Biden-Harris platform and what the Biden-Harris administration will be about," Harris said. 

 

"It's about saying, we need to immediately address a number of issues that demand priority and immediate attention. And that relates to getting people back to work. It means investing in infrastructure and creating millions of new jobs. It means fighting for healthcare for all people."