Video Resurfaces To Haunt Kamala Harris’ Campaign
Vice President Kamala Harris has been working to separate herself from some of her more progressive stances, but the Internet never forgets.
A resurfaced video from 2019, during her unsuccessful presidential campaign, shows her boasting about one of the policies she is now distancing herself from.
In the video, Harris, speaking at Howard University, discussed how she bypassed her office to ensure “gender-affirming care” for transgender inmates.
“I was, as you are rightly pointing out, the attorney general of California for two terms. And I had a host of clients that I was obligated to defend and represent, and I couldn’t fire my clients. And there were, unfortunately, situations that occurred where my clients took positions that were contrary to my beliefs,” she said in the 2019 speech.
“And there—it was an office of a lot of people, who would do the work on a daily basis. And do I wish that sometimes they would have personally consulted me before they wrote the things that they wrote? Yes, I do. But the bottom line is, the buck stops with me, and I take full responsibility for what my office did. But on that issue, I will tell you, I vehemently disagree and, in fact, worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Department of Corrections would allow transitioning inmates to receive the medical attention that they required, they needed, and deserved,” she said.
This week, Fox News host Bret Baier asked her about her current views on taxpayer-funded surgeries for federal prisoners who identify as transgender, and the vice president sidestepped the question.
“This is a time when voters, especially here in Pennsylvania, are inundated with commercials and ads. They just want it to stop because it’s every commercial. But many of them add noise, but a few of them seem to break through. This particular one from the Trump campaign has gotten a lot of attention,” the journalist said before playing a campaign ad from former President Trump, suggesting Harris backs “gender-affirming” surgeries for transgender inmates.
“So, are you still in support of using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detained illegal aliens transition to another gender?” Baier asked. Harris deflected, turning the conversation to former President Trump, which was a recurring theme in the interview.
“I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed. You’re probably familiar with now it’s a public report that under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available to, on a medical necessity basis, to people in the federal prison system. And I think frankly, that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of like throwing stones when you’re living in a glass house,” she responded.
Baier pointed out, “The Trump aides say that he never advocated for that prison policy and no gender transition surgeries happened during his presidency.”
“Well, you got to take responsibility for what happened in your administration,” Harris remarked, as she continued to distance herself from both the Biden-Harris administration’s actions and her own past.
Baier reiterated, “Yeah, no surgeries happened in his presidency. Would you still advocate for using taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment surgeries?”
Harris remained firm, insisting she would “follow the law,” just as Trump did.
“Like I said, I think it’s... He spent $20 million on those ads trying to create a sense of fear in the voters because he actually has no plan in this election that is about focusing on the needs of the American people. Whereas $20 million on that ad, on an issue that, as it relates to the biggest issues that affect the American people, it’s really quite remote. And again, his policy was no different. Look at where we are though,” she concluded.