Kamala Harris Calls For Suspension Of Trump’s Twitter Account After Whistleblower Complaint Tweets

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) on Monday called for the suspension of President Donald Trump‘s Twitter account, citing his tweets about the whistleblower who filed a complaint regarding Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine.

“The President’s tweets and his behaviors about this are just further evidence of the fact that he uses his power in a way that is designed to beat people down instead of lift people up,” the 2020 presidential contender told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Frankly, when you look at what he’s been tweeting today directed at the whistleblower, directed at so many people, you know, I, frankly, think that based on this and all we’ve seen him do before, including attacking members of Congress, that he, frankly, should be — his Twitter account should be suspended.”

In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump said he deserved to meet the whistleblower, his “accuser” who he in turn accused of spying on him and of lying about the nature of his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. On Monday, Trump repeated his attack on the unknown CIA official by using the hashtag #FakeWhistleblower on Twitter.

Cooper asked Harris if she believes suspending Trump’s Twitter account would lead to criticism of the platform by people who might view the move as an effort to suppress the president’s freedom of speech. The California Democrat responded by saying the real issue revolves around the concern that Trump’s rhetoric could potentially incite violence.

“If he’s not going to exercise self-restraint, then, perhaps, there should be other mechanisms in place to make sure that his words do not, in fact, harm anyone,” said Harris. “And that’s my point. What we want to make sure is that his words do not actually result in harm to anyone.”

SLIDESHOW: TOP DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020

Three Democratic House committee leaders, including House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-California), also condemned Trump’s tweets and demanded the president end his “reprehensible witness intimidation” of the whistleblower.