Kamala Harris performed the oldest magic trick in the book – pay attention to this hand while I do something else with the other – when she questioned the “integrity” of top Justice Department officials for working with Jeffrey Epstein’s law firm, while on that same day her husband headlined a fundraiser for her presidential campaign that was hosted by six partners of the same firm.
Don’t expect to read anything in the mainstream media about Kamala Harris’ hypocritical, not to mention deeply troubling, connection to Jeffrey Epstein’s law firm.
“If any connection with Kirkland and Ellis is a stain on (senior Justice Department officials), why isn’t a connection with the law firm for the receipt of campaign contributions a stain on her own campaign?” said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney for the good-government group Common Cause.
In public, Kamala Harris criticized the handling of Epstein’s case in Florida a decade ago, when his lawyers negotiated a deal with federal prosecutors that granted him the “deal of the century” and saved him from serving decades behind bars. But behind closed doors, Harris’ decision to quietly move ahead with the fundraiser hosted by Kirkland and Ellis partners exposed her true colors.
“In our democracy, no one — no matter how powerful or well-connected — is above the law. Yet Epstein’s deal, secured by his lawyers at Kirkland and Ellis, calls into question the integrity of our legal system and undermines the public’s confidence that justice will be served,” Harris said in a statement released to the public on the same day Kirkland and Ellis partners hosted her Chicago fundraiser.
CBS report: The attention paid on the case also drew scrutiny on Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who both worked for Kirkland and Ellis. Harris, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it was necessary that they recuse themselves from involvement in the matter to avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.”
Barr is recused from any review of a 2008 plea deal, but has said that he doesn’t need to do so with the current case.
Before her election to the Senate, Harris was the attorney general of California and was elected to two terms as San Francisco’s district attorney. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is also a high powered attorney who works in corporate law. So it is perhaps little surprise that law firms have been one of the top industries that have donated to her presidential bid, with Kirkland and Ellis being no exception.
Her campaign declined to say how much was raised at the event, and the sum won’t have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission until October. Records show that a handful of employees and partners of the firm donated about $6,000 to Harris during the first quarter of the year — a drop when compared to the $12 million she raised during that time.
