White House hopeful Joe Biden on Friday (14) levelled fierce criticism at Donald Trump, with his campaign saying the president has resorted to "abhorrent" lies about Democrat Kamala Harris's eligibility to be vice president.
Biden named Harris, a woman of color who was born in the United States and is constitutionally eligible to be both vice president and president, as his running mate on Tuesday. She quickly faced attacks that Democrats deemed racist.
"I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements," Trump said Thursday, citing an article by a conservative law professor that questioned the immigration status of Harris's parents at the time of her birth.
Harris, 55, was born in Oakland, California to a mother from India and a father from Jamaica.
Trump "has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart," Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, referring to the "grotesque, racist birther movement" led by Trump that promoted the lie that Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, was not born in the United States.
"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."
The conservative professor's article cited by Trump followed claims shared thousands of times on Facebook that Harris could not become president because her parents hailed from abroad.
Article 2 of the US Constitution states that "no person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States" shall be eligible for the presidency.
Section 2 of the 14th Amendment says "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" are US citizens.
Trump grudgingly acknowledged late in his 2016 presidential campaign that Obama was American-born.
Since then, Trump has faced accusations of racism, and has embraced other conspiracies.
Polls show him trailing Biden in the November election.
Dharavi slum in Mumbai
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)