WASHINGTON -
Republicans on Sunday sought to distance themselves from Donald Trump's latest insults of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during a rambling weekend rally in Wisconsin in which he called her 鈥渕entally disabled.鈥
Trump escalated his personal attacks on the vice president during what was billed as a speech on immigration following Harris' trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.
鈥淛oe Biden became mentally impaired,鈥 Trump said. 鈥淜amala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country. Anybody would know this.鈥
Trump has already falsely claimed Harris 鈥渢urned Black鈥 and regularly insults her as 鈥渟tupid,鈥 鈥渨eak,鈥 鈥渄umb as a rock鈥 and 鈥渓azy.鈥 With just over a month left before the presidential election, his allies pushed him publicly and privately to talk instead about the economy, immigration and other issues.
鈥淚 just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country,鈥 said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on CNN's 鈥淪tate of the Union" when asked about Trump's comments. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e crazy liberal.鈥
When asked whether he approved of the remarks, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., sidestepped during an interview on ABC鈥檚 鈥淭his Week.鈥
鈥淚 think Kamala Harris is the wrong choice for America,鈥 said Emmer, who is helping Trump鈥檚 running mate JD Vance prepare for Tuesday鈥檚 vice-presidential debate. 鈥淚 think Kamala Harris is actually as bad or worse as the administration that we鈥檝e witnessed for the last four years.鈥
When pressed, Emmer said: 鈥淚 think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He鈥檚 going to fix it again. Those are the issues.鈥
Harris would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to be president, has not commented on Trump鈥檚 recent attacks. She has said when asked about other comments, that it was the 鈥 same old show. The same tired playbook we鈥檝e heard for years with no plan on on how he would address the needs of the American people.鈥
Trump said last month that he was 鈥渆ntitled鈥 to personal attacks against Harris.
鈥淎s far as the personal attacks, I鈥檓 very angry at her because of what she鈥檚 done to the country," he told a news conference then. 鈥淚鈥檓 very angry at her that she would weaponize the justice system against me and other people, very angry at her. I think I鈥檓 entitled to personal attacks.鈥