Two weeks after her star-making performance at the first Democratic presidential primary debate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) returned to The View on Friday to face some of Joe Bidenâs biggest media boosters.
Before getting to Biden, co-host Ana Navarro asked the former prosecutor to weigh in on the morningâs hottest topic: the resignation of Trumpâs labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, over his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Harris âabsolutelyâ disputed the notion that Acosta cut the toughest deal he could with Epstein, calling child sexual-assault cases âsome of the most difficult cases to prosecuteâ because âyouâre asking a jury to believe a young person over an adult.â Any prosecutor âworth their salt,â she said, should have put Epsteinâs case before a jury and made sure he went to prison âfor a long period of time.â
âIt is difficult, but itâs done every day in courtrooms in America,â she added. âEvery day in courtrooms in America, prosecutors are prosecuting these cases and getting convictions. I got them. I personally got them. So thatâs what I find so troubling about the narrative.â
It was left to Meghan McCain to change the subject.
âI think weâre all in agreement of how abhorrent all of it is, and itâs very difficult to talk about, but Iâm glad we are,â she said. âI need to pivot though if you donât mind. So letâs talk about Joe Biden.â
In an attempt at a âgotchaâ moment, McCain brought up a pre-debate quote from Harris in which the senator said, âYou are not going to hear me criticize Joe Biden. I think heâs a great guy.â McCain said she thinks âa lot of people are curious what happened to that promise.â
âI have no intention of attacking Joe Biden, but I am going to point out our differences of opinion on a very critical moment in the history of the United States,â Harris said calmly. She went on to explain that it was Bidenâs comments about segregationist senators that prompted her to bring up the issue of busing in the debate.
âSo listen, this is a presidential race,â Harris said. âAnd I absolutely agree and believe and maintain that we should not have personal attacks against each other, we should not be attacking each other, but weâre on a debate stage.â
As McCain interrupted the senator to say that a Biden adviser called her âslick and slippery,â Harris held up a finger and said, âHold on!â
âWell, you know what?â Harris continued. âWeâre on a debate stage, and if you have not prepared and youâre not ready for somebody to point out a difference of opinion about the history of segregation in our country and what was necessary to deal with that, which at that time was busing, then youâre probably not ready.â