Among the many aspects of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris’ background being touted as strengths by the Biden campaign is her experience as a prosecutor — both as San Francisco district attorney and California’s attorney general.
Since presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced the California senator as his running mate, however, longstanding and nonpartisan accusations that she helped suppress sexual abuse cases are attracting renewed scrutiny, as reported by Breitbart.
Troubling allegations
The accusations stem from a pattern of alleged abuse of minors by religious leaders within the Catholic Church.
Among those who have spent considerable time digging into Harris’ record as a prosecutor is senior Breitbart News contributor Peter Schweizer, who also serves as the president of the Government Accountability Institute.
In his new book, Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite, he touches on how the then-prosecutor handled the scandal.
Schweizer wrote that, while prosecutors in at least 50 other cities and states were pursuing cases against the Catholic Church during the 13 years that Harris was the top prosecutor in San Franciso and then the state, she never opened a single case.
Furthermore, he alleged that she actively worked to hide critical church documents that would have served to aid such prosecutions.
A questionable record
Former San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, Harris’ predecessor, on the other hand, reportedly worked aggressively to investigate various dioceses across the state and obtained internal church documents indicating some members of the clergy had sexually abused young parishioners.
According to Schweizer, when Harris was running to replace Hallinan, she received unusually large campaign contributions from attorneys and law firms directly or indirectly tied to the Catholic Church, further fueling speculation about possible motives in her handling of abuse claims.
For some alleged victims in these cases, Harris has not sufficiently explained her position.
As the Associated Press reported last year during her failed presidential bid, victims blamed her for covering up and declining to prosecute their claims of sexual abuse.
The entire narrative looks bad for a candidate who has campaigned as a defender of victims. Only Democratic Party voters will be able to determine whether they can still trust her to pursue justice on behalf of all Americans.
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