On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said members of President Donald Trump’s administration were “violating” their oath to defend the Constitution by mounting a defense to the House’s impeachment inquiry.
On a letter she sent to members of Trump’s cabinet, Harris said, “To put everyone on notice, this is a process that is about pursuit of justice and truth and that we are not going to tolerate in our role of oversight any conduct that interferes with that process, and so we are putting members of the cabinet on notice that they have a duty and a responsibility to preserve evidence to protect whistleblowers and the inspector’s general of the various agencies and cooperate with the process. And frankly, to your point, the letter perhaps is unique because I don’t think in recent history we’ve seen the need for those kinds of obvious points to be made but with this administration. We can’t take anything for granted, especially when we’ve seen the highest elected official in our government, Donald Trump actively engaged in the suppress of evidence and the intimidation of witnesses.”
When asked about Trump’s letter to Congress saying they will not corporate with the impeachment inquiry, Harris said, “This is a moment that highlights the magnificent brilliance of the framers of our constitution and the Founders of our nation who imagined such a moment where there would be an outright and obvious, at this point, abuse of power by one branch of government, in this case, the executive branch and the need therefore for these kinds of checks and balances. So the letter today from Senator Blumenthal and myself and so many others who have stood up to stand for accountability and for our democracy is about living what our Founders imagine might be necessary, which is to have these checks and balances. But that statement is ridiculous and is clearly just another example of members of this administration who frankly are violating their oath.”
She added, “I say that purposely. It’s not like they are ignoring it or overlooking it. They are violating it. They took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And I think it is clear that there are enemies who are American citizens, enemies to our democracy. This is a moment where everyone should have the courage to stand up and speak to the values of our Constitution and our democracy and our system of justice.”
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