CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers doesn’t understand how Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was being “hysterical” while questioning Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday.
While speaking to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper about Sessions’ testimony, former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said that Sessions “knocked away some of the hysteria from Kamala Harris and some of the Democrats who wanted to make this a big partisan show.” he said.
Powers fired back, asked: “How was Sen. Kamala Harris hysterical?”
You can read the full conversation below via CNN.
Miller: “It didn’t seem like there was any effort to try to get to a real question or to the bottom of things.”
Powers: “I think she asked a lot of questions. She was very dogged. I wouldn’t say she was any more dogged than Sen. Ron Wyden was, would you say that?”
Miller: “I think she was hysterical. “I don’t think Sen. Wyden was trying to get to the bottom of answers either.”
Powers: “But he wasn’t hysterical, she was.”
Miller: “She was trying to shout down Attorney General Sessions and I thought it was way out of bounds. This is the second hearing in a row.”
Toward the end, CNN contributor Jefferey Lord added that “hysteria is a neutral quality.” To which Powers responded: “And yet, it’s just women that usually are called hysterical.”
The tense exchange comes after Harris was interrupted by her male colleagues during Sessions’ testimony on Tuesday and after she was interrupted earlier in June under similar circumstances.
It was a simple question. Can Sessions point to the policy, in writing, that allows him to not answer a whole host of our questions today.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 13, 2017
After the hearing, Sen. Harris tweeted: “It was a simple question. Can Sessions point to the policy, in writing, that allows him to not answer a whole host of our questions today.”