Kamala Harris is hoping to capitalize on her career as a prosecutor as House Democrats ramp up their impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Harris’ “she’s a cop” reputation has hurt the senator for California’s standing among liberal members of her party passionate about criminal justice reform. But the presidential candidate’s prosecutorial chops could be a major boon if she can put on a strong performance during a Senate trial that would follow Democrats in the House passing articles of impeachment.
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Last week, she said in Nevada: “As a former prosecutor, I will tell you that my entire career has been fighting for justice and Donald Trump has clearly thought of himself — as soon as he told us he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it — as someone who thinks he is above the law.”
At the start of August, she was already framing her support for impeachment with references to her experience as a prosecutor, saying: “I do support proceeding with a process toward impeachment because, listen, I have seen people go to prison for far less than the evidence we have right now in terms of this president.”
Six 2020 Democrats — Harris, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota (another former prosecutor), and Michael Bennet of Colorado — would then be among the 100 senators voting whether to impeach Trump.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday the Kentucky Republican would have “no choice,” but to bring up impeachment articles cleared by the House given rules that govern the upper chamber.
A Senate trial of Trump would give Harris, a two-term California state attorney general and past San Francisco district attorney, a very public forum to undermine the man she wants to replace as commander in chief ahead of an election year.
Rivals like Warren have been more vocal impeachment advocates. But Harris, who rose to national prominence for her Senate Judiciary Committee grillings of eventual Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation battle and Attorney General Bill Barr over former special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation, whose campaign is based on how she’d prosecute the case against Trump in a general.
The impeachment inquiry was sparked by a whistleblower allegation that Trump improperly leveraged military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his second son, Hunter Biden, during a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower additionally claims the Trump administration tried to conceal the record of the call.
As more details of the Ukraine affair emerge, Harris has been careful in her criticism of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and their dealings in the Eastern European country. Simultaneously, she has eagerly skewered Trump and his allies, describing the president as “lawless,” and engaging in a public spat with Rudy Giuliani after calling for a probe into the former New York City mayor.
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, had been pushing Ukraine to look into the former vice president for threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees during a 2016 trip to Kiev if Ukraine didn’t fire its top prosecutor. Giuliani asserted there was a potential conflict of interest because the prosecutor had examined Burisma Holdings, an oligarch-owned company which Hunter Biden served as a board member.
Harris’ team has also promoted an exchange their boss had with Barr in April. The senator stumped the attorney general during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary panel when she asked him whether Trump had ever suggested he “open an investigation of anyone.” A transcript of the July 25 phone call revealed the president recommended that Zelensky liaise with Barr regarding Biden.
Victor Dutchuk, chair of West Des Moines Democrats in Iowa who’s endorsed Harris, cheered on her efforts before primary voters in his first-in-the-nation state caucus on Feb. 3. “The exchange with AG Barr is an example that Sen. Harris will stand up for what is right and not back down,” Dutchuk told the Washington Examiner, alluding to the Harris camp’s Barr references. “I am pleased that the Harris campaign is reminding voters that she is a fighter for Americans.”
Douglas Gansler, a Maryland former attorney general who was in office at the same time Harris was the top law enforcement officer in California, approved of the strategy. He downplayed how this could be her last chance to have an impact on the race in light of her plateauing poll numbers.
“Nobody votes until next year and she remains one of the mainstream media’s picks for the Democratic nomination. No risks for her on that at this point,” Gansler said.
Nevertheless, Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center, urged caution. “Other than her campaign launch rally and a shining moment in the first Democratic presidential debate, Harris has had difficulty attracting the same kind of attention that the top-tier candidates are getting,” he said.
Burden noted, “She would be in competition for floor time with many other senators, including those who are not on the Judiciary Committee but would presumably have equal access to the floor.”
“The timing will be an issue as well,” he warned. “If it takes place, a Senate trial is likely to be months away. At that point the Democratic presidential contest will have evolved and the field of candidates will have winnowed. The Harris campaign will need to have enough longevity to still be viable when a trial gets underway.”
Impeachment is gaining momentum across the country. A Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday reported a nationwide 47%-47% split on whether Trump should be forcibly removed from office. Those figures represent a 20-percentage-point spike from a week ago when 37% of respondents supported impeachment and 57% didn’t.
