Former Democratic congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard slammed Vice President Harris’ remarks condemning Russia’s imprisonment of WNBA player Brittney Griner
To recap, Griner, 31, was sentenced by a Russian court on August 4 to 9 years in prison for being caught with a cannabis vape pen in an airport near Moscow on February 17. Katie covered how President Biden issued a statement saying that his administration “will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue” to bring Griner back to the United States.
On Twitter, Harris wrote that “Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner” and that the administration is working hard to reunite Griner and Paul Whelan with their families.
With today’s sentencing, Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner. She should be released immediately. @POTUS and I, and our entire Administration, are working every day to reunite Brittney, as well as Paul Whelan, with loved ones who miss each of them dearly.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) August 4, 2022
“Another note of hypocrisy coming from Kamala Harris and this administration,” Gabbard told Fox News’ Will Cain during an interview late last week. “During her illustrious record as attorney general in California…she kept prisoners in prison longer than their sentences to use them as free slave labor yet at the same time these very same people are condemning other countries for doing the exact same thing. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“My question for her [Harris] and the Biden administration is where is your outrage for your fellow Americans who are sitting in prison today here in the United States of America because of minor marijuana violations?” she added. “To me, the message to the American people, and their families, through their actions is loud and clear. It’s that if you are rich, and powerful or famous, then you will get special treatment from this administration. If you are not, we don’t care about you and we’re going to let you sit there and rot in jail.”
In a July 2019 presidential debate, Gabbard attacked Harris’ record locking up people over marijuana violations but laughed when asked if she ever smoked marijuana herself.
FLASHBACK: Rep. @TulsiGabbard hammered Joe Biden’s now-VP pick, Kamala Harris, on her record as a prosecutor.pic.twitter.com/7eZE6v6ZHW
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 11, 2020
“The evidence is really in her record, not only on this issue, but I know there are a lot of examples on other issues, unfortunately, like too many politicians, it seems that she puts her finger to the wind and decides the things she's supposed to be angry about on any given day and if it becomes politically inconvenient or damaging then she'll switch the other way," Gabbard told Cain about Harris.
“It’s unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that we have a vice president of the United States who doesn’t appear to stand for anything other than herself,” she concluded.
Last week, Tesla founder Elon Musk appeared in an episode of the “Full Send” podcast. During the podcast, he wondered why the Biden administration is working hard to free Griner but not Americans in jail for marijuana.
“If the president is working so hard to free someone who is in jail in Russia for some weed, shouldn’t we free people in America?” Musk asked. “There are people in jail in America for the same stuff. Shouldn’t we free them too?”
Watch Gabbard's interview on Fox News below.
Tulsi Gabbard calls out Kamala Harris for defending Brittney Griner but not average American citizens:
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 6, 2022
"Where is your outrage for your fellow Americans who are sitting in prison today here in the United States of America because of minor marijuana violations?" pic.twitter.com/clpegXr8fY
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