Vice President Kamala Harris’s earlier statements on domestic violence gained attention on social media Wednesday after allegations surfaced concerning her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is accused of having slapped an ex-girlfriend.
Three anonymous acquaintances of the alleged victim claimed that Emhoff struck the woman in the face with sufficient force to make her spin around. The purported incident reportedly occurred during the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France while the two were waiting for a valet, and it was stated that Emhoff had been drinking at the time.
In the wake of these allegations, users on social media began sharing Harris’s past comments on domestic abuse. In 2018, she, along with other Democrats, addressed accusations of sexual misconduct against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. “Wore black today in support of all survivors of sexual assault or abuse,” Harris had tweeted at that time, asserting, “We won’t let them be silenced or ignored. #BelieveSurvivors.”
Commenting on the resurfaced remarks, writer and consultant Jennifer Oliver O’Connell drew attention to the disparity by saying, “Oooh, Kamala. This did not age well.” Additionally, in one of her posts from that year, Harris expressed solidarity with women across various industries, proclaiming, “#TIMESUP on abuse, harassment, marginalization, and underrepresentation,” and emphasized the necessity for survivors of sexual harassment to be heard, believed, and to know that accountability is achievable.
Retired Army officer John Tammes referenced the 2018 tweet while sharing a link to the allegations against Emhoff, and conservative columnist Rusty Weiss echoed sentiments that every woman should be believed, urging condemnation of Emhoff in strong terms.
In 2017, Harris had stated, “We need to take crimes against women and children more seriously — crimes like human trafficking, domestic violence, and child abuse.”
During her campaign trail this year, Harris made pointed remarks about former President Donald Trump concerning his own allegations of sexual assault. “Before I was elected as United States senator, I was the elected attorney general of California, before that I was a courtroom prosecutor,” she remarked in a YouTube clip, asserting her experience in prosecuting a range of perpetrators, including those who abuse women. “So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she added, receiving applause from the audience.
The Harris campaign did not respond to requests for comment regarding the allegations against Emhoff.
In a September rally, Trump appealed to women voters by positioning himself as “your protector,” promising that they won’t “be thinking about abortion” if he wins in November. He said, “You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today.”