These old white men don’t want to let Senator Kamala Harris speak!
And why not?
Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.
The California freshman is on the Senate Intelligence Committee — the group is having a busy week because the Trump administration keeps doing sketchy things.
This week, the Committee's trying to get to the bottom of the Trump-Russia connection.
To do so, they're questioning FBI, Department of Justice, NSA and National Intelligence Program leaders.
So far, it hasn't gone so great for those put to question — and it’s not supposed to. But it's gone worse for Kamala Harris, and that’s definitely not supposed to happen.
Harris, as the newest Democrat on the team, has to ask her questions last.
As Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (of Comey memo fame) sat before the Committee, Harris patiently waited her turn. Then, given the green light, she asked Rosenstein a pointed question about Comey’s firing, directing him to give a “yes” or “no” answer.
Rosenstein then proceeded to begin to spin a elaborate dodge of the question.
And you know Harris wasn’t having that. She works for the people, and the people want answers.
Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) however, felt that answers aren’t what the people want. As Harris tried to get Rosenstein to answer, he cut her off, and told her to “provide the witness the courtesy … for questions to get answered.”
What about the witness having the courtesy to answer the question he’s asked?
When Harris tried to continue her line of questioning, Burr cut her off again. When she started to use Rosenstein’s own words against him, guess what happened. Guess!
Yep, Burr told her to stop and to let the man talk.
And that was just the beginning, folks!
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, feeling the pressure, and maybe even a little confused by the vocabulary, elements of law and philosophical references Harris was dropping at him, kept cutting her off. And he’s not even on the Committee — he was testifying!
She’d start asking him a question he didn’t like, and he’d cut her off, whining, “Let me at least finish once before you interrupt me.”
How about you let the senator finish once before you interrupt her, Kelly?
What other old white men wouldn’t let Kamala Harris finish her sentences this week?
How about John McCain? Yes, John McCain — the good Republican, war hero John McCain — cut Harris off. He too, leaned forward and was like, Yo, Kamala, back up off the witness, let him answer.
Then there was Director Michael Rogers of the NSA. You see what agency he’s from, you know he’s going to be doing something not so good. Harris asked him about why he’s been hiding some of his conversations with Trump.
“You can keep trying to trip me up,” Rogers began, Talking Points Memo reports, and Harris reminded him that this wasn’t a complain about the question session, it was an answer the question session.
To which Rogers complained that she wasn’t letting him answer, “Senator, if you could, could I get to respond please, ma’am?” Rogers asked.
“No,” Harris said.
Blavity reached out to Harris’ office for a comment on all this.
Tyrone Gayle, Harris’ press secretary, said, “As a career prosecutor and former attorney general, Senator Harris has run countless investigations, and will follow the facts wherever they may lead to get the truth for the American people. That can only happen when witnesses answer questions.”
Harris and the Senate Intelligence Committee have another red letter day coming up Thursday, when former FBI director James Comey takes the stand.
The Committee will be working to get to the bottom of whether or not Comey’s investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn’s connections with Russia played a part in his firing, and whether the Trump administration is guilty of obstruction of justice.
Will Senator Harris be able to get in a word edgewise? Or will her colleagues and the witnesses continue to display behavior that is at best sexist, and at worst both sexist and racist?
Guess we’ll be telling you tomorrow. See you then.
