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Oh My God, Republican Male Senators, Stop Cutting Kamala Harris Off
Come on, guys. We've talked about this before. Remember last week, when Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr cut California Senator Kamala Harris off as she questioned Rod Rosenstein, earning Harris support from Elizabeth Warren and seemingly all of Twitter? Harris's epic reactionary eye-roll, which launched a thousand gifs, should have been enough to ensure that her (white, male, conservative) colleagues ceased cutting her off mid-sentence. Unfortunately, the lesson didn't seem to stick, as Arizona Senator John McCain proved Tuesday when he cut Harris off for the second week in a row—this time, as she questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Burr got in on the fun once again, reprimanding Harris to "let him answer."
A CNN video of the hearing shows Harris pushing Sessions for a yes-or-no answer as to whether he'd based his decision to invoke executive privilege on any concrete, written policy or rule, until McCain broke in and addressed Burr, saying, "Chairman, the witness should be allowed to answer the question." Jeff Sessions looked relieved at the interruption, to put it mildly. (See photo for evidence.)
As many noted last week, it doesn't seem entirely coincidental that Harris, the sole woman of color on the Senate intel committee, was the only senator to be interrupted or reprimanded during Tuesday's hearing; Virginia Senator Mark Warner interrupted Sessions before and after Harris spoke, NBC News reports, yet he failed to receive any lectures on courtesy from the committee Chairman. "As Senator Harris has said, there are times when "truth has to rise over decorum" and today was another example of her working to provide answers for the American people," a spokesperson for Senator Harris's office told LAist, adding, "They deserve nothing less than a full accounting of AG Jeff Sessions' role in the Russia investigation and interactions with Russian officials." Check back next Tuesday to see which white, male, over-60 Republican senator will be serving Kamala Harris her scolding of the week!
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