Tipsheet

Did Kamala Harris Contradict Joe Biden in Her Tweet About Rittenhouse Verdict?

President Joe Biden's response to a jury finding Kyle Rittenhouse "not guilty," as highlighted by Katie, was bad enough, considering that he inserted his own personal opinion into it. Vice President Kamala Harris' tweet, though, from her official account, was even worse. And, as Kelsey Vlamis pointed out for Business Insider, appeared to have contradicted the president.

"While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken," the president's statement, which appeared on the official White House website, began. 

On the White House lawn, while speaking to reporters, Biden also said "I stand by what the jury has concluded. The jury system works and we have to abide by it."

Such comments appear to be in even more direct contradiction, then, to Harris' tweet. 

Further, while Harris may think she's sticking to the administration's agenda of furthering "equity," such a narrative doesn't exactly fit the career she is boasting about in her tweet.

As Lara Bazelon wrote for The New York Times in a January 17, 2019 opinion piece, "Kamala Harris Was Not a ‘Progressive Prosecutor.’"

Bazelon's piece in part mentioned:

Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent. Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.

That doesn't sound too "equitable."