Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) accused Vice President Kamala Harris of showing “hypocrisy” concerning the fight to bring WNBA player Brittney Griner back to the United States.
On Thursday, Harris criticized Russia for sentencing Griner to nine years in prison after she pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into Russia. Customs officers in Moscow had found vaping cartridges that contained cannabis oil in her luggage.
“With today’s sentencing, Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner. She should be released immediately,” Harris tweeted. “@POTUS and I, and our entire Administration, are working every day to reunite Brittney, as well as Paul Whelan, with loved ones who miss each of them dearly.”
With today’s sentencing, Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner. She should be released immediately. @POTUS and I, and our entire Administration, are working every day to reunite Brittney, as well as Paul Whelan, with loved ones who miss each of them dearly.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) August 4, 2022
WATCH: DICK MORRIS SAYS TRUMP ‘ORCHESTRATING A MAKEOVER’ OF GOP
Gabbard, also a former presidential candidate and vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, told Fox News that while Harris was attorney general of California, she worked to keep people convicted of similar charges in prison longer than their sentences.
“Another note of hypocrisy coming from Kamala Harris and this administration,” Gabbard said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“My question for her and the Biden administration — where is your outrage for your fellow Americans who are sitting in prison today here in the United States of America because of minor marijuana violations?” Gabbard continued. “How come you are not fighting as hard for them to be returned home and reunited with their families as you are for Brittney Griner?”
More than 1,900 people were locked up for marijuana-related offenses while Harris was California’s attorney general, according to a report.
Gabbard stated that she opposes the imprisonment of marijuana offenders and summarized her view of Harris’s comments by slamming the unethical influence that elitism is playing in her view.
“To me, the message to the American people through [the administration’s] actions is loud and clear, is that if you are rich and powerful or famous, then you will get special treatment from this administration,” Gabbard proclaimed. “If you are not. We don’t care about you, and we’re going to let you sit there and rot in jail.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Fox News host Will Cain asked Gabbard if Harris’s shift in approach to political hot topics makes her words “empty.”
“Unfortunately, like too many politicians, it seems that she puts her finger to the wind and decides the things she’s supposed to be angry about on any given day, and if it becomes politically inconvenient or damaging, then she’ll switch the other way,” Gabbard said.
