Kamala Harris wants some fries, but says Democrats should ‘have faith’ in impeachment trial
California Sen. Kamala Harris is frustrated as the impeachment trial proceeds. She says the Trump camp is telling lies, and she can’t enjoy her favorite snack.
“Unfortunately, I can’t take french fries in,” she said with a big laugh, since senators can’t bring food into the Senate chamber during the trial.
Harris, who Friday spoke in an interview with McClatchy, is one of 47 Senate Democrat caucus members sitting in judgment of President Donald Trump, a group that’s stuck together in seeking witnesses and more evidence.
But they’re overcome by the 53 Senate Republicans, and more votes on opening the process are expected next week.
Asked what could sway four Republicans to join the Democrats, Harris said, “I think that the bottom line is we have to have faith in our colleagues in their ability to put country before party.”
She said she really wants to believe that in only the third impeachment trial in the nation’s history, Republican colleagues will understand the gravity of their task.
Impeachment, the former state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney said, is “unlike other issues that may come before us, where there may be an ideological difference of opinion or things of that nature.”
That’s because, she said, “only members of the United States Senate have the responsibility to follow through on an oath .that is about doing about impartial justice to make a decision on this matter.”
So far, Harris said, nothing has been surprising, since she’s familiar with the House impeachment proceeding and the evidence.
“What is maybe not surprising but shocking is the fact that the president’s lawyers have at least in their opening statements made various statements of misfact and really just untruth and lies,” she said.
It’s an “absolute lie,” Harris maintained, that Republicans were not permitted to examine evidence or witnesses during the House impeachment process.
According to FactCheck.org, ”White House lawyers distorted the facts on the impeachment process and other issues during the Jan. 21 Senate trial.”
For instance, during opening statements Tuesday, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said that during House Judiciary Committee proceedings, Trump was “denied the right to cross-examine witnesses … the right to access evidence and … the right to have counsel present at hearings.”
FactCheck.org said the committee chairman, a Democrat, invited Trump and his lawyers to participate, but they declined.
The senator has been able to get her views known through tweets.
“Let’s be clear about something. On Tuesday, every single Republican senator voted to block access to first hand witnesses and relevant documents,” Harris tweeted after a series of Democratic efforts to get more witnesses and documents failed on party-line votes.
“And now they have to gall to say that so far in the trial, they haven’t learned anything new. They can’t have it both ways,” she wrote.
She also goes on TV talk shows, where she talked about why the impeachment trial should not be seen as entertainment.
“This is not a television show, and it shouldn’t be thought of or judged based on the standard of what is entertaining television. This is a trial on the impeachment of the president of the United States,” Harris told CNN Thursday.
And she appears at press conferences. Democratic senators have been holding such forums each day before the trial, and recently Harris was a featured speaker.
The Senate’s challenge, she said, “is to uphold the integrity of our system of democracy, uphold the integrity of our system of justice, and to uphold the integrity of the United States Senate, which has a responsibility to do fair and impartial justice.”
Senators have been required to stay in the Senate chamber during the trial. They can interact with the public and media only during the 15-minute breaks that come roughly every two hours or the half-hour dinner break.
That’s why, Harris laughed, she often finds herself “a little hungry.”
And she’s definitely a connoisseur of fries. Last year, husband Douglas Emhoff tweeted, “Confirming @KamalaHarris loves her fries. She makes them at home too...hand cut, double fried (peanut oil then duck fat) with rosemary and sage from our herb garden.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2020 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Kamala Harris wants some fries, but says Democrats should ‘have faith’ in impeachment trial."
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