I watched almost all of Attorney General Jeff Sessions testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. I thought it was going to be a day-long hearing, but Scarlett O’Sessions breezed in at 2:30 and the hearing didn’t even last two full hours. Still, it was impressive how much lying he fit into those two hours. Anyway, I was waiting for Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) to take her turn in questioning Sessions. Sen. Harris is a lawyer, a former state attorney general and former prosecutor. She knows what’s up. She knows how to interrogate. She knows how to get the most out of her allotted time. Which is why it was bizarre that for the second time in a week, Kamala Harris was THE ONLY SENATOR to be interrupted by the chairman, Senator Burr, during her time. And during the Sessions hearing, Sen. Burr wasn’t even the first one to interrupt her! John McCain actually interrupted her first. Here’s the full video of Sen. Harris with Scarlett.
As I said, this happened last week too, when the Senate Intel Committee was questioning Rod Rosenstein about whether Robert Mueller would have full independence. Last week, she was interrupted and told to be “courteous” when she went into prosecutor mode. And in the Sessions hearing, she was once again in prosecutor mode, asking concrete questions about evidence. Sessions was visibly flummoxed and audibly irritated. He was trying to stonewall her and filibuster her allotted time and she wasn’t having it. And instead of just allowing Sen. Harris to carry out her time in the way she saw fit, McCain got his panties in a wad and then Chairman Burr had to “put her in her place.” The fact that this keeps happening to Kamala Harris is absolutely disgusting. It’s racist and sexist.
Also: having watched the entire hearing, I can tell you that Sessions’ demeanor completely changed when he was being interrogated by a black woman. He was truly appalled that someone like Kamala Harris would dare to question him about anything.
Some important tweets:
Kamala Harris got jeff sessions so tight he's about to speak in banjo
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) June 13, 2017
The open disrespect for Kamala Harris is just wild, although, not hard to figure out where it comes from.
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) June 13, 2017
What is it about Kamala Harris that makes her the only Senator Republicans interrupt at every hearing?
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) June 13, 2017
To be fair to Treason Elf, I was also a nervous mess when I met Kamala Harris last fall. She is the Wonder Woman we need but do not deserve.
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) June 13, 2017
Senator Kamala of the House Harris, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Congresional Hearings pic.twitter.com/4ixGnfVT8G
— Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) June 13, 2017
Photos courtesy of Getty.
She had that man in knots.
And yea it’s not hard to see why she’s always interrupted. White men that are weak are always afraid of intelligent strong black women. Heck I’m turning in a paper on the struggles of black women in the workforce today for school. Edited the paper last night and threw in an anecdote about Harris.
You do you Harris. We know how to survive hostile conditions. That’s how we thrive.
ALEX say it again!!!!!! this alll day
Preach! Senator Harris is so impressive and I was thrilled to note that many are recognizing (1) her unfair and disparate treatment in the hearings and (2) recognition that this happens systemically.
There was a white, male commentator on CNN this morning calling it like it is (his wife is a prosecutor: “This is sexism” He failed to note the racism, which completely and utterly blows.
Yep it’s sexism and racism. Double whammy. I could go on and on about the double dose of “no” black women get but I’ll spare everyone my rant of the day
SESSIONS: I’m not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.
Kanaka Harris is 🔥🔥🔥
She wouldn’t allow the person being questioned to answer. She was being rude.
She was trying to get him to answer properly rather than stonewall, it’s a technique.
It’s one attorney against another attorney. Just because she is doing her job doesn’t make her rude. I’m guessing you’re not an attorney, so you don’t have much of a ground to stand on, kgspm. Also, neither of the interrupting senators are attorneys, so if they don’t understand how a direct or cross work, they should let the attorneys work it out amongst themselves. They are all grown ups that don’t need to be protected from one another.
Love her so much. Bo Jeffery was about to combust in his seat. It was like he was watching her burn his favorite vintage klan hood.
LOL well said
Harris’ sharp, unapologetic professionalism made it seem, for one sublime moment, like Obama’s standard of expertise still held sway in Washington. Her straight up line of questioning shed a harsh light on Sessions – and all of Trump’s pack of bumblers, snakes and con artists. Just seeing the hard skepticism on her face while Sessions squirmed was galvanizing. She was perfection.
Senator Harris was clearly so much smarter and on her game than the keebler elf. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Sessions was trying to good ole boy his way through and Harris basically was trying to rattle him. They are both lawyers.
Seemed like he was playing Beverly From will and Grace
After he said he’d have to consult with other attorneys about what documentation he could and could not provide, and she responded with her dig about him having to defer to other lawyers in the DOJ of which he is the senior attorney… OMG. I could roast marshmallows off that burn.
She may have been shushed – again – but if nothing else, every question she asked made Sessions look like the unqualified idiot he is. And it was glorious.
Of course they are intimidated; They’re not used to communicating with a black woman without wearing white hoods.
!!!!!
And they wonder why they have a problem with women.
One of my cousins worked with Kamala at the AG’s Office in California. Our whole family is Team Kamala.
It’s funny how some dude asked her to let the witness answer her question since the witness was in fact NOT answering her question which was why she kept pressing him
I was thinking just that, she was trying to get him to answer. He was speaking in circles about nothing and trying to waste time.
Bingo.
Exactly! WTF. Only thing worse than being a female senator is being a black female senator.
Love KH.
Exactly
My state Cali is pretty badass.
Kamala is da bomb. Would you vote for her in 2020 vs Emperor Zero or Mike “Mommy!” Pence?
She’s got my vote. But just imagine the minds exploding if Kamala ran for POTUS. Having a black male President damn near destroyed their minds….a black female President would be their total undoing. In fact it maybe harder for Kamala because she’s mixed…..her mother is fram India and her father is from Jamaica.
#Kamala2020
You guys have a great bench in Cali, Eric, no question. You should be very proud.
Kamala and Jerry Brown have made me so proud.
I would absolutely vote for her.
Fellow proud Californian here! I call Kamala’s office regularly, just to thank her for her good work and to cheer her on. In my mind we’re Sistah/Girl Friends. I would imagine her staff think I’m a wackjob, but I soothe myself with the assurance that I’m not the only person who feels this way about Senator Harris.
Thank you. Please keep doing that. Do everything possible to keep representatives like Ms Harris in power.
I also live in California and I just pretend that Jerry Brown is president and trump is a bad dream. Harris 2020.
I live in California too. Born and raised. I’m so happy Harris is my senator, and kinda selfish in that I don’t want to give her up for a 2020 presidential run. She could do so much more good in the Senate for now IMO, especially after all of this.
I was fuming watching this. The disrespect Burr showed 😤!!! Best part was Sessions obvious rage at being questioned by Senator Harris. Yes, that’s SENATOR Harris to you, evil elf and Burr.
I’m from NC. Former lawn equipment salesman Burr is desperately hoping for a cushy job with the GOP after his term ends. He will lick as many boots as needed just as long as he doesn’t have to go back to selling weed-wackers.
I’m from NC too. I have had to turn to Burr’s office a many a time for my husband’s visa and they have been very helpful. Tillis not so much. I find the behavior appauling here, but I won’t go full force hate since he (well his people) have helped me and continue to.
He’s an angry elf!
God that interaction was so infuriating!
Like, this guy is the frigging attorney general and he is obviously LYING. She is trying to get answers like YOU should be doing too, senators! Why are the more worried about poor little klan grandpa getting nervous than they are about him answering direct questions? And this is the second time this has happened.
These interactions alone are proof enough that these testimonies are a joke that the republicans are participating in only because they haven’t found a way to make them go away yet. None of them are interested in answers.
It was crazy. I give her props for keeping her composure and not going nuclear on their racist, misogynist, lying asses. And lol at “poor little klan grandpa.” Indeed.
She is unflappable. I wanted to nut-punch every one of these dudes that disrespected her.
I guess Cindy McCain’s new position at the State Department magically cured John’s dementia?
And again, this is why I cannot with McCain. He talks shit when it’s convenient but when push comes to shove, he lines up with the rest of those thugs.
I just wonder what it feels like to be disliked by both parties…because most Republicans I know hate McCain and most Dems I know don’t think much of him either.
Yes, agreed on John McCain. Occasionally, he talks like he has ethics, but then when you look at his voting record, he never stands up for what is right when it comes time to vote.
Sen. Harris was perfection in that exchange. I knew she’s the former AG of California, but damn she wowed me. This lady is embodying persistence and commitment to democracy. So glad she showed Sessions that not everyone will roll over for his too-racist-for-Reagan antics.
That smirk of his when Sen. Harris’ time was up was TOO MUCH. To me, it read as “Hey boys [read: Republican male senators], I got out of that tight spot with your help, amirite???!! LOL!”
Kitten, I CANNOT with McCain either. He makes sure to voice dissent in a feeble, milquetoast way, but also makes sure to never, ever act on it. The man is 80 damn years old, and he’s still afraid of the wingnuts that are overtaking his party? It’s a shame.
“afraid of the wingnuts that are overtaking”
This is the crux of the problem…the tail is wagging the dog.
And people are still spouting the nonsense that sexism was never a factor in the election..obviously any old white man is preferred to a smart woman
and any young black man is also preferred to a white or colored or black woman. Don’t forget black men got the vote before women of any color, did. People made a conscious decision to support black men’s rights over suffragette rights in the US.
I love Kamala Harris! I saw a CNN panel and former Trump aide Jason Miller was saying Harris was “hysterical” in her questioning. He was called out by a woman on the panel pushing him on why her questioning should be deemed hysterical.. no viable response. I’m sure “shrill” would have been the next sexist comment put out of his mouth of he continued.
That exchange was beyond frustrating. Someone on Twitter pointed out that while Jeffrey Lord (of course it was him) called that word gender neutral, its very etymology comes from the Greek word “hysterika,” meaning uterus. Men don’t have uteri, nor are they typically called hysterical. SURE JAN.
I was just coming here to comment about that! She doesn’t even raise her voice and she’s hysterical? No, she’s an intelligent senator that wanted answers from Sessions. I was so angry. I’m not sure why they haven’t addressed this yet on CNN.
Kirsten Powers is my hero. I was fuming too and I was waiting for her to lay into d.bag Jason Miller and she did not disappoint. Ughhh… It was oozing sexism, I could have punched my screen!
I HATE the word “hysterical”. “Hystero” means uterus. It is such a sexist word!
Her questioning was far from out of control, it was so incredibly logical.
(edited to add: I didn’t see your post before commenting, Sadezilla! )
Some men seem to have a problem with the natural pitch of female voices. Everything we say in such situations is “shrill” or “hysterical” to them because we aren’t tenors or basses. Especially when we don’t use that upturn at the end of every sentence to indicate our poor little brains are too small to be sure of ourselves.
i used to think that as a white woman with a fair amount of personality I had a handle on sexism, but what has been going on in the US, a supposedly First World country, on the highest level of politics is infuriating and has turned me into a rampant fighter for female rights.
I admire her poise, but of course republican pundits said she was ‘hysterical’. I personally would have not handle the condecending interruptions with so much calm, but that is exactly how she has the upper hand, because she does not feed into their stereotype.
Meanwhile GOP sens are asking Elfman fluff questions like how do you keep the cherry filling from one cookie from sliding on to another? Or what’s it like to live with Snap, Crackle, and Pop?
I know, it was unreal. Such a f^cking farce.
Thank you, Eric! This made me laugh.
Senator Harris is a badass who doesn’t pull any punches. That evil, racist elf really did look terrified, yet also disgusted, during her line of questioning. I hope he dies in prison.
She made him “nervous” !
He needs a safe space, the poor precious kkkebler elf.
I watched the hearings. Harris was so rapid fire in her interrupting in the middle of Sessions’ answer to her original question that I had a hard time keeping up with her too. I was glad I didn’t have to try to answer Harris.
When I am in an important interview I get nervous when I can’t answer properly due to quick interruptions too. I know it is important to answer well and when I am not being given enough time, the interviewer is making things too difficult. I need time to think over the question and to answer. Harris wasn’t giving him time.
No need for a safe space, not a snowflake in my case or Sessions. We been through and have survived enough fires without melting to be made of frozen water. Asking Harris to slow down was appropriate.
The Elflord was dissembling and going off topic so much she had to bring him back to answering the actual question. He was deliberately word-salading to use up all her time.
Senator Harris is THE empress of all things and if she runs in 2020 I’m all the way with her.
Sessions entire demeanor changed when he was talking to democrats in general. When it was a woman, it was 10x worse. With Kamala, 100x worse. Hm.
Yep and we know why. And I’m with you on her running for prez. I really like her. I don’t know if 2020 will happen, but she’s got my vote if and when she does run.
@Shambles
+100000
The Democrats finally showed the world his true face that he hides behind. And Senator Harris showed us how panicked and worried he was. He went out of his way to run out the clock with her because he knew she is good at her job. Happy to see that many morning news shows invited Senator Harris for interviews today.
Didn’t he say something like he couldn’t handle the fast questions? Dude, you’re the f’ing US Attorney General. If you can’t handle a few minutes of tough questions, you can’t handle your job. Step aside.
I like what I’ve seen of her so far, she is tough and very smart. We need more people like her in leadership roles.
Right, the whole “nervous” excuse he threw out there even as he tried to claim Comey was the incompetent one. Ridiculous.
Sen. Harris did a great job. Women and people of color have a higher standard to maintain in order to reach the same level as white males. That’s the honest truth. That’s often why guys like Sessions aren’t terribly impressive while Kamala Harris wows.
Yep. And how can you stay the AG when you admit that you have never been briefed about the Russian interference into the elections because you are compromised? Our biggest security risk as expressed by the pentagon is not ISIS, its cyberwarfare. The top cop in our land is incapable of providing security. The hiring should have stopped at that point and The President invited to congress to explain why Sessions still has a job. Oh yeah, because he can lock up more Black and Brown people from society and from voting.
Much respect to this poised, thorough, brave woman in a sea of men. Is it me or is it only the women who are trying hard to stand up to this mess of a White House (with some great men in there, too).
King’s line of questioning was good as always, and Precious Sessions threw a temper tantrum when questioned by the Oregon Democratic senator (blanking on his name).
That’s Sen Ron Wyden and he’s my senator! I think he’s the bees knees – especially in these hearings. He’s like the Robin to Sen Harris’ Batwoman 🙂
I almost lost it laughing at that keebler elf when he said she made him nervous! Yeah we know she makes you nervous! She’s a strong, educated black woman (who knows your ass is lying). She & woman like her, intimidate the hell out of racist/sexist white men.
Senator Harris was questioning Sessions aggressively because he was being evasive. If anyone should have been admonished, it was Sessions.
The GOP is terrified of any woman of any color who is smart, accomplished and not afraid to show it.
She was awesome! Reminded me of “Nevertheless, she persisted” when McConnell tried to silence Elizabeth Warren a few months ago too.
Was that only a few months ago? It feels like…years ago.
Her male colleagues seemed to take the same tag team approach that they did when Warren was shut up – they repeated the questions she had asked, just as Warren’s male colleagues managed to get Coretta Scott King’s letter into the record. I think the Democrats know what they have in Harris and are quite willing to follow her lead in such things. They put her on that committee for a reason.
Time for these old men to retire; they have been around too long. Should be an age and term limit.
Seriously so impressed by her intelligence and the way she carries herself. I hope the Democratic Party make her their candidate for the next election, she is everything!
I appreciated that Lawrence O’Donnell called out both Sessions and McCain during his coverage of it. McCain is a GUEST at those hearings. They are not required to invite him, they are not required to let him speak. He interrupted her and tried to put her in whatever place he thinks she belongs. Definitely moves McCain firmly into the column of yet another white, straight, male, Republican who kowtows and kisses Drumpf ass.
Time to buy Kamala Harris a Wonder Woman t-shirt.
I watched O’Donnell’s show last night too. It was so odd that McCain was a guest acting like he ran things. Someone made the point that Harris was good at asking questions, versus his odd rambling last week with Comey.
“McCain is a GUEST at those hearings. They are not required to invite him, they are not required to let him speak.”
Wow, I didn’t realize that. This pisses me off so much.
Loved that O’Donnell brought it. He has been calling out this crap for years and years. No wonder Lack was trying to get rid of him, they really were not expecting this rich, old, white man to not only have sense, but be a ally.
She’s so much smarter and better prepared than most of the other senators who self aggrandize with their flowery say nothing comments. Her laser like concentration and understanding of the essential issues is scary to them. Sessions was stonewalling to eat up her time–an obvious pre-planned strategy.
I love her and I wish Indiana had a senator like her who I could be proud of.
That is one kickass lady!! The disrespect, though.
I admire her professionalism. I would have probably jump across the table.
I hope Senator Harris is thinking of a presidential run! She’d rock. Scarlett O’Sessions wins the day for me – great name!! Sadly, these people are all going to walk away from this. They will not be impeached for anything. Trump’s reputation will be in tatters, which will damage the family brand, but he will serve out his four years as a lame duck president. My prediction.
He answered a yes/no question with an pile of meaningless wordvomit to waste her alotted time for questioning, and she called him out on it. She had every right to call him out on it. He was obstructing her.
But some other (white male) democrats were firm with him too after Sessions was purposely wasting their time to speak and they were not called out on it, so yeah… gross
But did you catch that she kept bobbing her head up and down continuously, while wearing the most insincer smile across her face? Omg !
But did you catch that she kept bobbing her head up and down continuously, while wearing the most insincer smile across her face? Omg ! Completely unnerving to anyone who was on the other end of that “Pennywise” expression!!!
What it looks like when the person who should have the job questions the treasonweasel who stole the job.
These political posts seem tacky in light of the shooting.
I don’t see how. There are several mass shootings a day in this country. There will be four tomorrow, four again the day after. Something Republicans do not seem concerned about. So, we shall carry on as they have always done when it was our children, moviegoers, high school kids, college students, etc.
Exactly. Suddenly now there’s a call for “respect” after a shooting because the victims were GOP congressmen? I don’t think so.
Not to mention I think most of today’s political threads were posted before the shooting occurred.
Indeed. And thankfully the only person who died was the shooter.
Annetommy- I wish the shooter had survived. It would make it much easier to establish his motivations. Some Republicans have already started spinning this in weird ways.
There seems to be a recent push to paint Trump as a victim of “witch hunts” and people generally being mean to him and his family. I assume it’s all distraction because the Russia investigation is getting close to home. They want to mute public criticism and mockery of President Tweeter (an old American tradition in dealing with tyrants from pre-Revolutionary times) and stifle public protest.
Gun violence archive reports 154 mass shootings to date this year.
http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
And yet the point is still made that mass shootings happen frequently and we are not kowtowed to acquiescence political discourse because of it. Instead life is forced to go on.
Today they were going to discuss a bill that secretly removed some gun restrictions, hidden in a bill about parks. Gun violence every day, but you won’t catch the Republicans saying anything about restricting access to weapons.
It is not tacky to discuss, every day, what the blockade, lock-step Republican party is doing to destroy this country and to attack the most vulnerable in every way possible through legislation.
Tacky is denying that a shooting of schoolchildren happened.
I just love this woman. Kamala for President!
I watched the hearings. This headline is misleading. Another senator asked Harris to let Sessions finish before asking another question. No one tried to silence her. She had her full allotment of time to interview Sessions.
Not really. Sessions tried to talk around the question i/o not to have to give a direct answer. They all do it to drag out time i/o not to have to commit to an answer. Kamala is an attorny, i/o knows the games, hence tried to get a direct reply because tue time ran out.Senator McCain actually helped Sessions by butting in so Sessions could waffle on. In the END the comittee never got their reply. McCain is not even on the comitte so he should stop interfering in the process.
One guy who didn’t do that was Comey. His answers were focused and detailed but no fluff.
Many of us watched the hearings, dear. But Sessions wasn’t answering her question, he was running out her time. He said that he refused to answer based on DOJ policy, and she asked him to specifically name that policy. He was stonewalling. She was interrupted while trying to get Session to answer the question.
If an AG is going to cite policy as the reason for not answering questions under oath, then he better well be able to name that policy that he thinks will justify his actions.
Queen Kamala! 🔥🔥🔥🔥
She is TRULY my new Hero!
So happy to have cast a vote for her! Go Kamala go!
As usual the bots were spinning that Sessions, Burr, and McCain had triumphed over Kamala Harris. McCain isn’t even on that committee, so he had no right to try to tell Kamala what to do.
You would think that being the woman’s advocate that she proclaims herself to be that Ivanka would had spoken out against Burr and McCain’s treatment of Kamala H. Ivanka did her rounds to talk about how horrified she was about the treatment her family received, yet where is her concern for woman like Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris who are being disrespected very publicly by GOP members?
She’s brilliant and a class act. Those rude dinosaurs who interrupted her clearly feel threatened by her.
Benjamin SiemonVerified account @BenjaminJS Jun 13
If you say “Kamala Harris” into the bathroom mirror 3 times, an old white man interrupts you.
I enjoyed watching Colbert mock this f*ckery. See 2:15 mark below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYw7MGYmUoQ