Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned in a statement on Thursday evening that Vanita Gupta, an attorney who President Joe Biden has nominated for the No. 3 job at the Department of Justice, would make America less safe due to her far-left policy views on policing.
“Vanita Gupta, President Biden’s nominee for Associate Attorney General, would make America less safe. She must be stopped,” Cotton wrote on Twitter. “More than 83k Americans died from drug overdoses last year, but Gupta wants to ‘decriminalize’ possession of ALL drugs, even fentanyl. Opioids are already ravaging our communities—we shouldn’t give fentanyl, heroin, or cocaine dealers get-out-of-jail-free cards.”
“As recently as last summer, Vanita Gupta called to defund the police,” Cotton continued. “Her allies in the jailbreak industry—who are clamoring for access to the Biden DOJ—are now trying to deny what she said. But see for yourself where Vanita Gupta stands on defunding the police.”
Cotton included a statement that Gupta made to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary last summer on the use of police force, a hearing that took place as left-wing riots ravaged inner cities across the U.S. in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.
Gupta said:
While front-end systems changes are important, it is also critical for state and local leaders to heed calls from Black Lives Matter and Movement for Black Lives activists to decrease police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of police in our lives.
As recently as last summer, Vanita Gupta called to defund the police. Her allies in the jailbreak industry—who are clamoring for access to the Biden DOJ—are now trying to deny what she said.
But see for yourself where Vanita Gupta stands on defunding the police: pic.twitter.com/juU9zf08ws
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 5, 2021
“No wonder Soros prosecutors like Chesa Boudin in San Francisco have endorsed Gupta. Gupta would promote their pro-crime agenda,” Cotton continued. “Soros prosecutors caused a massive spike in crime in major cities across the country by refusing to prosecute criminals. Why would we trust their judgment for the Department of Justice? The Senate should be suspicious of anyone they endorse.”
Cotton concluded by encouraging Biden to withdraw Gupta’s nomination and select someone who would “uphold the law.”
“The No. 3 job at Justice comes with a major policy portfolio focused especially on federal and local law enforcement, and conservatives are aiming to highlight Gupta’s past supportive comments for reducing some police funding and redirecting it to other services in underserved communities,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “The groups say those positions constitute support for defunding the police, a partisan lightning rod that Biden has repeatedly said he doesn’t support.”
The Washington Free Beacon noted that there are potential conflicts of interest with Gupta’s nomination to a top DOJ spot, which she did not inform the U.S. Senate about.
“Her father is Rajiv L. Gupta, a chemicals magnate turned Wall Street adviser and board member for Fortune 500 companies,” the report said. “Gupta made no mention of her father’s sprawling corporate network on a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire that asked her to identify prospective conflicts, despite the fact that the Justice Department has repeatedly sparred with her father’s businesses in recent years.”