Chuck Ross on September 7, 2019
Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris on Friday appeared to agree with a supporter who called President Trump “mentally retarded” during a campaign rally in New Hampshire, video footage shows.
Asked about the remarks on Saturday, Harris claimed she did not hear the pejorative, and called the remark offensive.
Harris was fielding questions in Londonderry when a supporter spoke out in support of impeaching Trump.
“I don’t buy that argument that impeachment does not make sense; the Senate will acquit. I don’t buy that argument. There needs to be accountability. What are you going to do in the next one year to diminish the mentally retarded actions of this guy,” said the man, as some in the audience chuckled.
“Well said,” Harris responded. “Well said.”
“I plan to win this election, I’ll tell you that.”
WATCH:
A Democrat voter calls Trump "mentally retarded" while speaking to Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris
Harris, a social justice warrior, responds while laughing: "Well said. Well said" pic.twitter.com/wtz9UDCTTt
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 6, 2019
CBS News reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns asked Harris about the exchange on Saturday, at a New Hampshire Democratic party rally.
“It’s an incredibly offensive term,” Harris said of the “mentally retarded” remark.
“It’s offensive, and you would think that in the year 2019, people would have a much better understanding how hurtful a term like that can be — but also the history behind it, which is the history of really ignoring the needs and the realities and the capacity of our disabilities community.”
@KamalaHarris told me that “in the year 2019, people should know it’s hurtful.” She said she did not hear him use the term.
— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) September 7, 2019
“You didn’t correct. Did you hear him?” Huey-Burns asked Harris.
“I heard him talk about the other stuff. And then that came later. And it was not something that I really heard or processed, you know, in any way.”
Harris has tumbled in recent polls taken of the Democratic field. She surged following a debate in late June in which she confronted frontrunner Joe Biden about his work as a senator with segregationists in the 1970s.
