Kamala Harris’ campaign team is pushing back on primary rival Tulsi Gabbard for disagreeing with Harris’ call to suspend President Trump from Twitter.
“No, I think freedom of speech is something that is an important, foundational right in our democracy,” Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman and Iraq veteran, said Wednesday when asked whether she thinks Trump should be suspended from Twitter. “We can’t just ‘cancel’ or shut down or silence those who we disagree with or who hold different views or who — who say things that we strongly disagree with or oppose.”
Harris campaign national press secretary Ian Sams criticized Gabbard’s comments in a tweet on Wednesday. “This was the exact talking point @FoxNews personalities were promulgating on air all day yesterday,” he said.
This was the exact talking point @FoxNews personalities were promulgating on air all day yesterday. https://t.co/aB1MDhpxqH
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) October 2, 2019
Harris earlier this week called for the suspension of Trump’s Twitter account, arguing that he has violated the Twitter terms of service.
“Others have had their accounts suspended for less offensive behavior. And when this kind of abuse is being spewed from the most powerful office in the United States, the stakes are too high to do nothing,” Harris wrote in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday.
She cited Trump tweets referencing a whistleblower who sparked a formal impeachment inquiry and suggesting that California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, be questioned for possible fraud and treason.
Gabbard is not the only Democratic presidential candidate to split from Harris on suspending Trump.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren laughed and said “no” when the Washington Examiner asked if Trump should be banned from the platform. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said that he is “less worried about the president’s access to Twitter than his access to the nuclear codes.”
Gabbard and Harris sparred on the July Democratic presidential primary debate stage.
“She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard said.
After the debate ended, Harris downplayed Gabbard’s attack. “This is going to sound immodest, but I’m obviously a top-tier candidate and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people trying to make the stage for the next debate,” she said.
