Kamala Harris Hits Back at Tulsi Gabbard: I’m a ‘Top Tier’ Candidate Who Expects to ‘Take Hits’

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) responded to an attack Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) made on her record as a prosecutor in California, saying she is a “top tier candidate” who can take a hit and still do well in the polls.

Kamala Harris on Tulsi Gabbard’s comments regarding her record as a prosecutor: “I’m obviously a top tier candidate and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight. … I’m prepared to move on” #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/kPNYfBs2rB

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 1, 2019

“This is going to sound immodest, but I’m obviously a top tier candidate, and so, I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people that are trying to make the stage for the next debate,” Harris said during an interview with CNN Wednesday night after the second night of the second round of Democrat debates in Detroit.

“Especially when people are at zero or one percent or whatever she might be at, and so, I did expect that I might take hits tonight,” she added.

Gabbard and Harris traded several barbs during Wednesday night’s debate. The congresswoman from Hawaii slammed Harris’s record as a prosecutor, specifically her hypocrisy when Harris said she jailed 1,500 people for marijuana usage but laughed about it when asked if she smoked weed herself.

Harris also fired a shot in Gabbard’s direction, calling her “an apologist” for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad by “refusing to call him a war criminal.”

Despite Harris’s gloating about being a “top tier candidate,” Gabbard took the lead in polls that Breitbart News and the Drudge Report conducted.