The former Attorney General of the largest state in the Union refused to say whether she believes a “convicted felon” should be allowed to serve in the U.S. Senate.
The RNC posted a video of a tracker asking California Sen. Kamala Harris is she thinks a “convicted felon,” presumably New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who is on trial for corruption, should be allowed to continue to serve if a court finds him guilty.
The tracker, who was persistent but polite, said, “Sen. Harris, should a convicted felon be allowed to serve in the Senate?”
All told, the prospective 2020 Democratic candidate for president was asked 10 times, and 10 times, she ignored the question.
But her handlers didn’t.
One tried to block the camera lens, while another tried to disrupt the filmer’s path.
At one point, Harris acknowledged the cameraman and looked at him as he asked, but she still refused to say a convict shouldn’t serve in the Senate.
“Sen. Harris, are you going to answer the question?”
She didn’t answer that either.
As for Menendez, the LA Times reports:
Robert Menendez, enamored of a luxury lifestyle that he couldn’t afford, misused his perch in the Senate to repeatedly help a prominent eye doctor in exchange for lavish hotel stays and other gifts, federal prosecutors said Monday at the start of the first corruption trial of a sitting U.S. senator in a decade.
Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery and conspiracy for accepting rides on a private jet, visits to an island resort and a stay at a five-star hotel in Paris, in exchange for helping the business interests of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, a longtime friend who was recently convicted of Medicare fraud.
The trial carries high political stakes for the closely-divided Senate. A conviction could allow New Jersey’s Republican governor, Chris Christie, an early supporter of President Trump, to replace the once-powerful Democrat.
If Menendez is convicted, Republicans would demand he immediately resign his seat. Democrats would be expected to support him pending an appeal, or at least until Christie leaves office in January. Menendez’s current term runs out in 2019.
Fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker sat in the front row during the trial.
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