tonight former president Donald Trump is defending himself as after suggesting that the vice president Harris is using her racial identity as a political advantage in an interview before the National Association of black journalists earlier today 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 in addition to that questioning the race of his opponent Trump also declined to say one way or another whether his vice presidential pick was ready to do the job on day one I'm joined tonight by Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Senator it's great to to have you here as I noted a second ago you worked alongside vice president Harris when she was in the Senate Donald Trump is standing by his comments tonight in your view are those comments defensible senator kayln of course first off it's refreshing to see a presidential candidate who's willing to go in front of the media something that Donald Trump knew would be a tough interview it turned out to be a hostile adversarial interview but he's been doing that for nine years KLA Harris meanwhile has been hiding out for the 10 days that she's been a Presidential nominee before then she used to do interviews every five days or so but now she hasn't faced any media at all I guess she thinks she can hide out for 100 days until this election more fundamentally the issue isn't what race KLA Harris identifies as it's the fact that she identifies as a San Francisco liberal she has a long record not just as vice president of being Joe Biden's borders are standing by the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal but running for president herself she said she was going to take away your health insurance on the job while she was going to give health insurance to illegal aliens and that we'd have a lot more of them because she promised that she would decriminalize illegal immigration she cast the deciding votes as vice president in the senate for the trillions of dollars of spending that has Unleashed inflation on families that make it harder for them to make ends meet KLA Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal and that's what really matters to Americans yeah I didn't hear Donald Trump bring up any of her policy positions today or stances when he was on that stage but your argument is is that just because she hasn't done an interview since she became the top of the ticket that it's okay to question what her race is well Kaitlin if you didn't hear Donald Trump talking about her positions and his record then you didn't watch the interview it went on for more than 30 minutes I did watch majority of it was was Donald Trump talk the vast majority of it Caitlyn was Donald Trump talking about his record contrasting it to the Biden Harris record of higher inflation and wide openen borders and War and Chaos around the world and pointing out that she has said things like she wants to eliminate the immigration police and that she believes that IM illegal immigration should be decriminalized and she wants to confiscate private firearms these are all indisputable things on her record Caitlyn there's video tape of them have you shown that videotape in the last 10 days since she became the Presidential nominee for the Democratic party Senator she promises to rip away health insurance we have talked about her past positions and the reversals of those and we've delved into all of that because that's actually what voters care about but but when your party's nominee is on stage telling a panel of three black women that the first black woman to serve as vice president hasn't always identified as black how does that help your party when elections well Donald Trump said that what matters that she identifies as a dangerous San Francisco liberal it's not what Ray she identifies as she identifies what's going to make a difference Caitlyn the interview was more than 30 minutes long which is 30 minutes longer than KLA Harris has had an interview with anyone since she became the Presidential nominee the vast majority of the interview was talking about KLA Harris's dangerous record on our wide openen border on higher taxes on taking away health insurance on the job and giving health insurance to illegal aliens the vast majority of that interview was contrasting the Biden Harris record and Harris's record from the first time she ran for president to the Trump ERA record that's a contrast that Donald Trump will win every day of the week I know you don't like her policies and and you talk about you call her the San Francisco liberal I saw you saying that with Jake Tapper the other day but that was not Donald Trump's main point today when he was asked about your Republican colleagues on the hill who were refer to her as a Dei hire he was asked if he believes that she's only on the ticket because she's a black woman and then he said that she doesn't always claim to be black which is not true but but does anything that she has or hasn't said about her Heritage have anything to do with her qualifications to to be in the Oval Office well no Kaylin that's not what president Trump said he said he didn't even know what Rachel Scott meant by a Dei hire and he had no idea why Joe Biden hired her what really matters is where the American people want to hire her given her a record and I promise you if you think things have been bad for the last four years under Joe Biden the worst is yet to come if KLA Harris is the president I just want to quote his words to You Senator he 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 you can defend those comments tonight and he and he also said either either is fine both is fine he loves African-Americans he Lov indian-americans he loves all Americans the point is that we don't know where she stands politically because she spent her entire life as a dangerous San Francisco liberal and now in the last 10 days she's tried to flip-flop on every single position well I should say she hasn't tried to flip-flop because she's sending out Anonymous campaign aids to say that she no longer holds views that she held when she ran for president in her own right when is she going to come on Caitlyn Collins show or Jake Tapper show or go on 60 Minutes or have an unscripted press conference and answer to the American people where she stands on the issues that matter to them on whether or not they can pay the bills on July 31st at the end of the month whether or not they're going to be able to pay them next month whether or not we're going to have another 10 million illegal aliens in our country under a common Harris presidency we have had that conversation about her policy views but how does her changing her views on her policy justify having the presumptive the Republican nominee questioning her race how does that does that increase or decrease your party's chances of winning in November well well Caitlyn you haven't had that conversation with kamla Harris because she's been hiding out I want to have this conversation with you like Joe Biden had out before her I'm and my point is when are you and the rest of the media going to demand that KLA Harris come out and answer questions in an unscripted format about where she stands for this country as opposed to continuing to focus on what Donald Trump said today you know four years ago Joe Biden said if you don't vote for him you ain't black could you imagine a more insulting comment Joe Biden is presuming to judge the political views of 1/8 of our fellow citizens based on their skin cover skin color did you did you ever ask kamla Harris to condemn his remarks there are or ask racist this is a question you're a repblic ask you about theic did you ask Harris Caitlyn did you ask KLA Harris why she's willing to serve as vice president for a man she called racist and a segregationist have you or anyone else in the media asked KLA Harris those questions Caitlyn Senator trust me I covered the Biden Harris White House we obviously have asked for her to come on but my question is for you about this Donald Trump's pick for VP once question whether he was America's Hitler but but Senator before you go I do want to ask you a question on Israel tonight because before everything happened today in Chicago a to top homas leader was killed in the Iranian Capital overnight Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for Ismael hania's death but they have vowed to eliminate Hamas its leaders after October 7th and I do I'm curious given your position in the Senate what you believe the impact of this is on the region and if it risks triggering a wider War well the impact is is Justice not just for Israeli victims of Hamas but the American victims of Hamas Hamas has much American blood on its hands still holding American hostages to this day Israel did take credit though for the strike in Beirut yesterday against not only someone who was a top Hezbollah Commander but someone who had the blood of more than 240 Marines on his hands because he was responsible in part for the 1983 beay Barracks bombing that's a strike that kamla Harris and Joe Biden worked overtime for three days to convince Israel not to undertake thank goodness that Israel didn't listen to KLA Harris and Joe Biden and actually got Vengeance not just for the Israeli victims of Hezbollah but also the American victims that's what we got for instance when President Trump killed kasum sulamani what we won't get if kamla Harris becomes president okay the question was about whether or not it risks triggering an allout War we'll see what happens in that region Senator Tom Cotton thank you for your time tonight thank you Caitlyn