House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., applauded Republican nominee Donald Trump for campaigning to expand the base but cautioned that wading into the race of Democrat presumptive nominee Kamala Harris is a "slippery slope."
Comer joined Newsmax on Thursday morning to discuss Trump's conversation before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago the day before, when he said he did not know Harris "was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black."
Trump said Harris in the past only promoted her Indian heritage.
"I certainly understand the argument Trump's making; I don't know that I would have made that argument at that particular venue," Comer told "National Report." "But look, Donald Trump is taking his campaign to the American people. He's campaigning in places that no Republicans have ever campaigned before. He's trying to expand the base of the Republican Party and I applaud him for that.
"You know, what he says about Harris identifying as Indian, if you go back to her initial races in California, the headlines in the newspapers all show that.
"I don't know what the real answer is or not," Comer added. "But I know that anytime Trump's going to question anything pertaining to race, then, you know, Kamala Harris is going to play the race card or the sex card. It's a very slippery slope."
Comer said this very scenario is why Harris is the soon-to-be anointed Democrat presidential nominee and new standard bearer of the left.
"And that's why the Democrat machine conspired with the mainstream media to get rid of Joe Biden and replace him with Kamala Harris," Comer said. "They feel like Kamala Harris can set Trump up in some traps to try to motivate their minority bases and motivate the, you know, females that are undecided in this election.
"So Trump's got a very slippery slope.
"But I think the best thing that Donald Trump could do is stick to the issues, that Kamala Harris was the border czar. And that's one of the biggest disasters in the history of America," he said.
Comer also reacted to the news the Biden administration is bringing home Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan as part of a major prisoner swap with Russia.
"It's always great to have Americans who have been wrongly captivated, returned to American soil. Obviously, we want to know what kind of terms that the Biden administration agreed to," Comer said. "We used to have a policy we didn't negotiate with terrorists, but at the same time, we need to do everything we can to ensure that no American is wrongfully imprisoned in a foreign country.
"So it's great news they're back, but we have a lot of questions and hopefully the United States didn't, give away something that, that we'll regret later on."
Comer said he just found out Thursday morning but "didn't fault that."
"I think sometimes it's best to have quiet negotiations and leave the media out of it," he said.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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