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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee raised the issue of \"birtherism,\" and criticized Trump Jr. for \"peddling birtherism again.\"

The coordinated smear campaign on Senator @KamalaHarris is racist and vile. The Trump family is peddling birtherism again and it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out against it.

— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) June 29, 2019

In the years prior to his candidacy, in 2011, President Donald Trump repeatedly -- and falsely -- questioned whether Obama was an American citizen. Even during the campaign, five years after Obama produced his long-form birth certificate from Hawaii, Trump refused to answer a question from The Washington Post about whether he believed Obama was American.

Tim Ryan echoed Inslee, saying, \"The attack on @KamalaHarris is racist and we can't allow it to go unchecked. We have a responsibility to call out this birtherism and the continued spread of misinformation.\"

Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke, Bill de Blasio and Kirsten Gillibrand all defended Harris, who has not dignified the remarks with a comment. Biden, Obama's vice president, also echoed the criticism of the birther movement.

The same forces of hatred rooted in 'birtherism' that questioned @BarackObama's American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris. It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 29, 2019

The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist & un-American, period.

— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 29, 2019

Harris graduated from Howard University, a historically black university, and was a member of the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek sorority for black women, founded by black women.

ABC News' Rachel Scott, Cheyenne Haslett, John Santucci and Chris Donato contributed to this report.

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