Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard drew the crowd’s attention on Wednesday when she brutally attacked Senator Kamala Harris’ criminal justice record at the CNN Democratic 2020 primary debate in Detroit.

As Harris spoke about her time as former Attorney General of California, Gabbard tied Harris’ record to the “broken criminal justice system that is disproportionately, negatively impacting black and brown people all around the country.”

“I’m deeply concerned about this record,” Gabbard said. “She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”

The crowd applauded as Gabbard continued to accuse Harris of blocking evidence to exonerate a man who was on death row, and that she “kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California.” When Harris was given a chance to respond, she said she was proud of her work as she insisted that she led a major reform of California’s legal system.

“I am proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor but actually doing the work of being in the position to use the power that I had to reform a system that is badly in need of reform,” Harris said.

Gabbard took another shot: “The bottom line is…when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people’s lives, you did not.”

“In the case of those who are on Death Row, innocent people, you blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so,” she said, as the crowd applauded loudly. “There’s no excuse for that, and the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology.”

“My entire career, I have been personally opposed to the death penalty and that has never changed and I dare anybody who’s in a position to make that decision to face the people I have faced to say I will not seek the death penalty,” Harris responded. “That is my background, that is my work. I am proud of it.”

Watch above, via CNN.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/316oPhB