Joe Biden slams Trump for his 'abhorrent lies' on Kamala Harris' eligibility

White House hopeful Joe Biden slammed US President Donald Trump for stoking false claims over the eligibility of Kamala Harris for running for vice president. Biden campaign said that the US President has resorted to “abhorrent” lies to distract American people from the “horrific toll of his failed coronavirus response”.

During a White House news conference, Trump attacked Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris with false claims over her eligibility for the office because of her origin. Trump referred to an opinion article in Newsweek written by conservative law professor John Eastman to stoke the baseless claims that he long promoted from his predecessor Barack Obama. 

"I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements," said Trump, calling Eastman “very highly qualified, very talented lawyer”. 

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'Unsurprising, but no less abhorrent'

Eastman, who lost to Harris in the Republican primary to be California's attorney general in 2010, said that there are some questions about the eligibility for the position. Harris was born in Oakland, California, to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, making her constitutionally eligible to be both vice president and president. Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement that the US President has sought to fuel racism and “tear our nation apart” with "grotesque, racist birther movement". 

"So it's unsurprising, but no less abhorrent, that as Trump makes a fool of himself straining to distract the American people from the horrific toll of his failed coronavirus response that his campaign and their allies would resort to wretched, demonstrably false lies in their pathetic desperation," said Bates.

Trump has also targeted the Indian-origin Democrat over her "weak" performance in Democratic primaries last year, calling her an opponent “everyone dreams of”. Shortly after Biden’s announced Harris’s name as his running mate, Trump said that he was surprised by the pick as she was "nasty" and "disrespectful" to Biden during the primary. 

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