Top Aide to Kamala Harris Abruptly Resigns After Harassment Settlement Surfaces

A top aide to Senator Kamala Harris resigned abruptly on Wednesday after the Sacramento Bee questioned him about a $400,000 harassment and retaliation settlement against him while working for the Democrat at the California Department of Justice in 2017.

The accusation and lawsuit was leveled against Larry Wallace in December of 2016, involving “gender harassment” toward his former executive assistant and forcing her into “demeaning behavior.”

Harris, a key voice in the Democrat smear job against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and top-tier Democrat option for 2020, was California’s attorney general at the time, set to be sworn in as senator.

The case was then handled by her successor, Xavier Becerra, and settled in under five months.

The allegations against Wallace included claims by Danielle Hartley that he purposely placed his printer under his desk so she would be forced, on a daily basis, to change the paper by crawling underneath.

“When she asked to move the printer to another location so she would not have to crawl under his desk in dresses and skirts, the lawsuit states, Wallace refused,” the Bee reported.

He forced her into this “demeaning behavior” in front of other male executives from the division, Hartley contended.

Kamala Harris and “believe all women” trope

Did we, or did we not learn from the Kavanaugh hearings, that Democrats insist all women should be believed when they make harassment claims against a male, due process be damned?

Becerra, by contrast, and his office, upon taking over the case, immediately blamed the victim, saying she had failed to follow proper guidelines.

Hartley, Becerra wrote, “unreasonably failed to utilize the procedures during the period of time, and after, the alleged harassment or discrimination was occurring.”

“Had Plaintiff taken reasonable effort to utilize these procedures Plaintiff’s alleged harm, injury or damages would have been avoided, in whole or in part.”

Despite continuing to fight Hartley’s claims and victim-blaming her, the nearly half-million dollar settlement was reached.

Harris claims ignorance

Harris spokeswoman Lily Adams issued a statement in which the Senator’s office claimed they knew nothing about the harassment claim.

“We were unaware of this issue and take accusations of harassment extremely seriously,” Adams said. “This evening, Mr. Wallace offered his resignation to the senator, and she accepted it.”

As part of the settlement negotiated with Becerra, Hartley was forbidden from speaking about the case to the media.

Still, the lawsuit was filed while Harris technically still served as attorney general. And the reality is, the Democrat Party is the one who set the bar incredibly high for your associations with allegations of this nature. After all, if Kavanaugh can be smeared for standing near a punch bowl decades ago, Harris can certainly be questioned over whether or not she knew anything about her top aide harassing and retaliating against a woman.

2020 is already pretty bumpy for Harris

There is no doubt that should Harris, a top contender on the Democrat side, run for president in 2020, that this case would be brought up. She won’t be able to hide behind blanket statements and dismissive waves as if she never knew about it.

It follows news last week that she may be in line to lose a key seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee due to Democrat losses in the Senate during the 2018 midterms.

The role presents “the kind of exposure a new senator usually could only dream of,” the Washington Post reported, citing oversight of the Mueller investigation as a chance for her to raise her profile.

Perhaps now knowing she turned a blind eye to workplace harassment of a female employee, it’d be better for her to shrink into the background.

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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