LAS VEGAS — Sen. Cory Booker, a Democratic candidate for president, said Joe Biden was more at fault for the mass incarcerations of drug users than California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, who previously served as her state’s attorney general.
“I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about, but, clearly, President Biden has been on every crime bill since the 1970s, major and minor, has had his name on it. That’s Joe Biden’s words, not mine. So, the system of mass incarceration was built up,” Booker said Saturday when asked by the Washington Examiner why he went after Biden on this issue but not Harris.
Booker spoke about his 2020 rivals while making an appearance at at a presidential forum hosted by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
When pressed further that Harris prosecuted drug users in her own state, Booker responded, “Again, she can talk about her record. I’m talking about the system of mass incarceration in our country. The laws that are being used right now to put their people in prison right now.”
He added, “I pointed out very boldly. I have a plan that I hope all the candidates. Kamala Harris to Joe Biden. Everyone will join me in saying things like we will give clemency pathways a clemency for 17,000 people on there. There are things about this system that have to end.”
Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard went after Harris for her prosecutions of addicted drug users in California when both were on the debate stage together last Wednesday in Detroit.
“Sen. Harris said she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president, but 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.”
Gabbard continued, “When you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people’s lives, you did not and worse yet in the case of those who are on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so.”
She added, “There’s no excuse for that and the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology.”
