WASHINGTON: Vanita Gupta, President Joe Biden's nominee for the Justice Department's No. 3 post, expressed regret for her past "harsh rhetoric" and said she does not favor cutting police funding, as she faced sharp Republican criticism during her US Senate confirmation hearing.
The Senate Judiciary Committee conducted its hearing into the Democratic president's nominations of Gupta as associate attorney general and Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general, the department's No. 2 job. Biden's fellow Democrats on the committee voiced support for both nominees, but Republicans attacked Gupta.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the panel's top Republican, read aloud past posts from Gupta's Twitter feed in which she assailed Republicans. He accused Gupta of "strident liberal advocacy" and excessive partisanship, reflecting opposition to her Senate confirmation from some Republicans and conservative activists.
"Her Twitter feed has painted Republicans with a broad brush, describing the Republican National Convention as three nights of 'racism, xenophobia and outrageous lies,'" Grassley said. Gupta pledged to work with law enforcement and with Republicans if confirmed. "I regret the harsh rhetoric that I have used in the past at times in the last several years," Gupta said. "I wish I could take it back."
Republican Senator Mike Lee sought to paint Gupta as a hypocrite, noting that she previously urged the Senate to refuse to accept an apology by one of Republican, former President Donald Trump's judicial nominees who had written racially insensitive comments as a college student. "You told him that his apology was too late and too self-interested," Lee said. "Is that something that we ought to apply to you?"
"I am a believer in second chances, and redemption," Gupta replied. "And I would ask for that."
If confirmed, Gupta would oversee the department's civil rights divisions, as well as antitrust, environmental, grant-making and community policing matters. Gupta previously served as acting assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division under Democratic former President Barack Obama, overseeing high-profile investigations into systemic abuses by police departments in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri.
