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Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris stumped Attorney General William Barr with her line of questioning during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1. Harris started off with a seemingly simple question for the Attorney General, asking “Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested you open an investigation of anyone?”
Barr looked confused and asked Senator Harris to repeat the question. When she repeated it, Barr struggled to understand, saying “I’m trying to grapple with the word ‘suggest’. There have been discussions of matters out there that…they have not asked me to open an investigation.” As Barr trailed off, Kamala Harris tried to clarify, “perhaps they suggested? Hinted? Inferred?” Barr trailed off and muttered, “I don’t know”. Barr then tried to clarify but interrupted Senator Harris’ follow-up question who sharply told him, “Sir, I am asking a question”.
Kamala Harris moved on to a new line of questioning and asked the Attorney General if he, “reviewed the evidence that underlines and supported the conclusions in the (Mueller) report?” Inferring that Barr did not look at all the evidence himself, but instead trusted the findings of the special counsel when making a decision on whether or not to charge the president with obstruction. She then asked if he consulted with Department of Justice ethics officials before he, “enlisted Rod Rosenstein to participate in a charging decision for an investigation the subject of which he is also a witness?” Barr claimed that Rosenstein had been cleared before he arrived but stumbled as Harris asked follow up questions.
Harris and Barr interrupted each other several times with Harris admonishing Barr and saying she was “not finished” on more than one occasion. The heated exchange lasted 8 minutes and was the most pointed line of questioning Attorney General Barr faced during the hearing.
Kamala Harris was the Attorney General of California from 2010 – 2016 and her prosecution skills were on full display as she tried to corner William Barr during the hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee. She is also one of the front runners for the Democratic party nomination in the upcoming 2020 election. After the hearing, Harris called for William Barr’s resignation and claimed he “lacks all credibility”. She has also called for Congress to take the steps to impeach President Donald Trump. You can watch Harris addressing Barr above,or here.