After President Donald Trump called her “nasty,” Sen. Kamala Harris on Thursday asserted that her “primary interest is to pursue justice” in keeping with what the American people want.
Trump’s comments came following the California Democrat’s rigorous questioning of Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday, which prompted Barr to reveal key details surrounding the handling of the Mueller report during his contentious testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On Fox Business Wednesday, Trump said Barr “performed incredibly well,” before host Trish Regan reminded him of Harris’ role.
“She was probably very nasty,” he replied.
When asked by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day” Thursday what Trump’s name-calling was about, the 2020 presidential Democratic candidate responded, “God only knows.”
“We have a President of the United states whose primary interest – I think that has been clear as a result of what we know from the Mueller report – has been to obstruct justice,” Harris added. “My primary interest is to pursue justice, and you can call that whatever name you want, but I think that’s what the American people want in a leader.”
She also accused Barr of dodging her questions to avoid potential perjury charges.
During the hearing, Harris grilled the attorney general on whether he had reviewed the underlying evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, as he was responsible for the charging decision. The line of questioning revealed that neither Barr nor Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had looked at Mueller’s underlying evidence before deciding not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice.
Barr was also unable to tell Harris whether anyone at the White House has suggested he open an investigation into any individual. Following the hearing, she called for Barr to resign and expressed concerns over “whether or not our democracy is intact.”
The President on Wednesday also accused Harris and fellow 2020 candidates Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota – all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee – of pressing Barr as a political stunt.
“You have three of them running against me and they’re up there ranting and raving like lunatics, frankly, and they’re running, and how is that fair? So you have Bill Barr, highly respected, great attorney general and he’s got to take the abuse from people that are running for office. They don’t care about this, they’re just looking for political points.”
This isn’t Trump’s first time calling Harris “nasty.” Speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity last month, the President said that he didn’t see Harris winning the Democratic nomination and that she has “got a little bit of a nasty wit.”
Trump famously used the term during the final 2016 presidential debate, calling his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton “such a nasty woman” while she discussed raising taxes on wealthy Americans including herself and Trump.
