U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely suggested to the country's largest annual gathering of Black journalists on Wednesday that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had previously downplayed her Black heritage.

"She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. 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," Trump said, drawing a smattering of jeers from an audience of about 1,000 people.

"So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black? Trump continued. "But you know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she went - she became a Black person."

Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, has long self-identified as both Black and Asian. She is the first Black person and Asian American person to serve as vice president.

Hours after Trump's comments, Harris told members of the historically Black sorority Sigma Gamma Rho gathered in Houston that his remarks were "yet another reminder" of what the four years under the former president looked like.

"It was the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect," Harris said. "The American people deserve better."

Since launching her White House campaign earlier this month, Harris has faced a barrage of sexist and racist attacks online, with some far-right accounts questioning her racial identity. Republican Party leaders have urged lawmakers to refrain from personal attacks and focus on her policy positions.

Trump himself has used personal insults against Harris and said he was going to ignore advice that he tone down his rhetoric. "I'm not gonna be nice!" he told supporters at one campaign rally.