Tulsi Gabbard

CNN.com

Tulsi Gabbard eviscerates Kamala Harris on her criminal justice record

It was glorious.

Photo of Claire Goforth 

Claire Goforth

Tech

Posted on Jul 31, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 7:34 am CDT

After her surprisingly (to some) good showing at the first Democratic presidential debate, in part thanks to an assist from her sister/Twitter admin, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-Hawaii) campaign has struggled to gain ground against a field of better-known candidates.

An hour-and-a-half into tonight’s debate, she got her moment.

Gabbard went in hard on the people’s champ of the first debate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), on her record as Attorney General of California.

“I want to bring the conversation back to the criminal justice system that is disproportionately negatively impacting black and brown people today,” Gabbard said. “Senator Harris says she’s proud of her records as a prosecutor and she’ll be a prosecutor president.”

Gabbard said that Harris put more than 1,500 people in jail for marijuana during her tenure “then laughed about when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”

“She blocked evidence that would’ve freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so,” Gabbard continued. “She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California and she fought to keep a cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst way.”

The moderator then gave Harris a chance to address the one-two-three punch.

“As the elected attorney general of California, I did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of a state of 40 million people that became a national model … I am proud of that work,” Harris said.

But Gabbard wasn’t done. Not even close.

“The bottom line is, Senator Harris, when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people’s lives, you did not,” she said, referring back to the allegation that Harris didn’t release evidence that would exonerate people on death row. “There is no excuse for that. And the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology.”

Harris appeared to stumble momentarily.

“My entire career I have been personally opposed to the death penalty,” she said, recovering. Harris then said she dares people “to face the people I have faced to say I will not seek the death penalty.”

“It is not about a fancy opinion on a stage…. I made a very difficult decision that was not popular to not seek the death penalty.”

But the damage was done. Even Students for Trump took note of the dragging, tweeting, “Tulsi Gabbard just absolutely destroyed @KamalaHarris. She called her out for her *awful* record as a prosecutor…”

https://twitter.com/TheRalphRetort/status/1156744800458223616?s=20

Gabbard’s campaign was riding so high, they even subtweeted Harris like a boss from her official account, retweeting this gem.

No matter what else happens on the campaign trail, tonight Gabbard had a moment in the sun.

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*First Published: Jul 31, 2019, 9:22 pm CDT

Claire Goforth

Claire Goforth is an investigative reporter, lawyer, and the head of the Daily Dot's Hi-Res division. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Al Jazeera, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, and more.

Claire Goforth