ABC moderator stuns Democratic debate crowd by confronting Kamala Harris on her record as California’s top prosecutor after she changes positions on marijuana and police shootings, and demands to know ‘why you didn’t try to affect change then?’
- ABC’s Linsey Davis confronted Kamala Harris on her record as a prosecutor
- She accused the 2020 hopeful of flip-flopping and contradicting herself
- Davis said she had reversed on issues about marijuana and police shootings
- Harris admitted that she did ‘absolutely not’ get enough done
- She said her new criminal justice reform was called ‘bold and comprehensive’
An ABC moderator of the third Democratic Presidential Debate stunned viewers Thursday night by accusing Sen. Kamala Harris of flip-flopping on issues including marijuana and police shootings.
Linsey Davis confronted the 2020 presidential hopeful about her record while Harris served as California’s top prosecutor and asked: ‘Why didn’t you try to affect change then?’
Remarking on Harris’ criminal justice reform, Davis said there were ‘contradictions’ on some of her positions.
‘You said that you’ve changed on these and other things because you were, quote, “swimming against the current and thankfully, the currents have changed,” Davis said, before adding that she didn’t try when she ‘had the power.’
‘Was I able to get enough done? Absolutely not,’ Harris confessed, but added that her current plan was ‘described by activists as bold and comprehensive.’
ABC moderator Linsey Davis (left) called out Kamala Harris (right) for stance point on certain issues and how they have changed. Davis accused Harris of contradicting herself by going in an opposite direction in her new reforms bill compared to her stance as California’s top prosecutor
The crowds were stunned by Davis’ questioning of Harris at the third Democratic Party Presidential Debate. (Pictured L-R; Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Beto O’Rourke and Julian Castro)
Harris countered that she was one of the first to ensure law enforcement ‘wear cameras and keep them on full-time.’
She also said: ‘I created one of the first in the nation trainings for police officers on the issue of racial bias and the need to reform the system.’
Harris went on to add that they wanted to end mass incarceration by ‘taking the profit out of the criminal justice system.’
‘I plan on shutting down for-profit prisons on day one. It will be about what we need to do to hold law enforcement, including prosecutors, accountable,’ she added.
Later Harris added that she intended to ‘de-incarcerate women and children… end solitary confinement… and work on keeping families intact.’
She promised if elected president that she would have the ‘ability’ to be an ‘effective leader and get this job done.’
Harris had previously been critiqued for her truancy policy that led to parents being criminally prosecuted and over her unwillingness to battle against California state’s death penalty laws.
Prior to rebuking Davis’ comments, Harris added that she became a prosecutor for two reasons.
Those were to ‘protect people and keep them safe’ and knowing how the criminal justice system particularly related to the ‘racial biases’ within the system.
She added that she and her family members have experiences this ‘extensively.’
‘I made a decision that if I was going to have the ability to reform the system, I would try to do it from the inside.’