Tom Cotton did not mince words at the confirmation hearing of Vanita Gupta, a far-left radical being appointed to one of the top spots at the Department Of Justice.
Some of her views have included the decriminalization of all drugs and the opening of borders for illegal immigration. However, it is her views on race that were put under the microscope by Sen. Tom Cotton during her hearing.
Transcript
Senator Tom Cotton: Ms. Gupta, I want to return to a troubling exchange you had with Senator Cornyn. He asked you a simple question, is it true that you advocate for the decriminalization of all drugs? You said simply, “no Sir, I do not”. He asked you to clarify and then you said, “Senator, I’ve advocated, as I believe President Biden has, for the decriminalization of marijuana possession. You went online and said, “I do not support the decriminalization of all drugs.” Yet, Miss Gupta, in an op-ed published in September of 2012 in the Huffington Post, you wrote quote “States should decriminalized simple possession of all drugs, particularly marijuana and for small amounts of other drugs. Miss Gupta, why did you mislead Senator Cornyn and this committee.
Ms. Gupta: Senator, I was not misleading I was speaking for my position today after having been at the justice department, after having family members and experiences inform my thinking on this. I do not support the decriminalization of all drugs. I have spoken about substance use issues and drug possession and substance use disorders as both a public health problem and an enforcement problem and I believe, continue to believe that very much as both a public health problem and an enforcement problem.
Senator Tom Cotton: Thank you. He didn’t ask what position Department Justice is he ask is it true that you advocate for the decriminalization of all drugs and you say, under oath, no sir I do not. You published an op-ed plainly advocating for quote “decriminalizing simple possession of all drugs.” You did not say, I changed my mind. You did not say my thinking has matured. You said, no sir I do not, under oath. If that’s not a misleading answer, Miss Gupta, what is?
Ms. Gupta: Senator that, not to pick apart words, but if, as I understood the question it was about my present advocacy position on these issues. I do not support the decriminalization of all drugs.
Senator Tom Cotton: So you’ve changed your position since that op-ed in 2012. You no longer support the decriminalization of all drugs.
Ms. Gupta: I don’t.
Senator Tom Cotton: Thank you. Let’s move to another exchange you had with Senator Cornyn. Last summer, 9 months ago, you were in front of this committee and Senator Cronyn said, “Do you believe that all Americans are racist? You replied, “Yes, I think that we all have implicit biases and racial bias, yes I do. Miss Gupta, I asked you against which races do you harbor racial bias?
Ms. Gupta: Senator Cotton, I do not, the yes was to say that all of us have implicit bias. This was an exchange also that Judge Garland had with Senator Kennedy during his hearing. I believe that we all have implicit bias. It doesn’t mean that we are harboring any racism at all. These are unconscious assumptions and stereotypes that can get made. And I remember, that summer of the exchange with Senator Cornyn, that we were discussing systemic racism and implicit bias and my response was to say that all of us have implicit bias.
Senator Tom Cotton: Well, to be precise you said, “We all have implicit biases and racial biases. That’s all, every single American you accused of implicit bias and racial bias. So I’m asking you again, against which races do you have racial bias?
Ms. Gupta: I am quite aware that I know that I hold stereotypes that I have to manage. I’m a product of my culture. I’m a product, it’s part of the human condition and I believe that, you know, one of the reasons I believe that all of us are able to manage implicit bias but only if we can acknowledge our own and I am not above anyone else in that matter. I think implicit bias is something that is part of the shared human condition.
Senator Tom Cotton: So, in the Trump Administration you strongly opposed the nominations to the federal courts of the following persons, Patrick Bumatai, Michael Park, and Aida Brown, a Filipino-American a Korean-American in an African-American. Should members of those communities be worried that you harbor racial bias against them since you oppose those judges nominations?
Ms. Gupta: I’m not sure I see how that connection is being made, Senator. The leadership conference for decades has reviewed the Civil Rights records of individual judicial nominees in Democratic and Republican administrations, and there were judges that we oppose based on their civil rights record and a complete review. There were, there was one set of judges that leadership conference oppose because they simply refused to say that Brown versus Board of Education was the law of the land and that seemed untenable for for a judicial nominee, but it was based on a review of the record, and that was the basis, that was the advice, and letters that we would send her to the Senate, with there were about a quarter of the nominees that President Trump or that the leadership conference suppose, but it was always after a thorough review of the record.
Senator Tom Cotton: So it’s your position then that you can oppose someone’s nomination on the merits without immediately and justly being accused of being racist or sexist because of their race or their sex.
Ms. Gupta: Sorry Senator, I’m not, I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at.
Senator Tom Cotton: I’m getting at the point that, that our democratic friends and many of the media often make whenever a senator opposes a nominee, they immediately jump to charges of racism. Such as for instance some people Joe Manchin of being racist and sexist for opposing Neera Tanden’s nomination. Can you oppose, can you oppose the nomination of a woman or a racial minority on the merits without being racist or sexist.
Ms. Gupta: Yes.
Senator Tom Cotton: Thank you. Let’s move on to another exchange you had with Senator Cornyn. You also said in response to a question about institutional racisms. “There is not an institution in this country that isn’t suffering from institutional racism. Thre’s not and institution in this country. Miss Gupta, does the Biden Whitehouse suffer from institutional racism?
Ms. Gupta: Senator, given the history of this country of slavery and the long period of Jim Crow and the ongoing scourge of racial discrimination, I think that it is remains very much a live problem in America today, and that the effort to address racial discrimination in all of its forms and discrimination of any sorts is something that all of us have to work at in the institutions we are apart of, and one of the reasons why I will be honored to return to the justice department if confirmed, is that the justice department actually founded on thi this objective of ensuring equal justice before the law, and the laws that congress has enacted at through the sacrifice and loss of life of black Americans and a Americans at large that is a kind of a core function of the justice department is to enforce our federal civil rights laws and to fight discrimination where it happens for all Americans.
Senator Tom Cotton: So I’ll just have the record reflect, I asked you simply does the Biden White House suffer from institutional racism and you didn’t want to respond. My time is up here. I just say, I don’t think you harbor racial bias toward any racial group or that you believe the Biden White House suffers from institutional racism, but when you throw around allegations that every single American suffers from racial bias, and every single institution suffers from institutional racism, you open yourself up to these kinds of questions by, by condemning your fellow Americans without individualized evidence of their beliefs, their words, or their deeds. I think these statements were Beyond The Pale. I don’t think really anybody truly believes them, nor should they be believed, because they’re so preposterous.
