At a town hall on Friday in New Hampshire, an attendee addressed Senator Harris and asked her what she planned to do “to diminish Trump’s mentally retarded actions” in the coming year.
In response to the man’s offensive slur, Senator Harris laughed and replied, ‘Well said. Well said.”
After facing criticism on Twitter for laughing at the slur, Senator Harris tried walking back her response when questioned by a CBS reporter. Harris said the term the man used was “incredibly offensive” and that it wasn’t something she had “really heard or processed.”
Senator Harris also said she’s been working on a plan to “help individuals with disabilities gain equal access to jobs, education, housing and health care.“
“You would think that in the year 2019, people would have a much better understanding of how hurtful a term like that can be, but also the history behind it,” she told CBS, “which is a history of really ignoring the needs and the realities and the capacity of our disability community.”
On her official Twitter account, Senator Harris posted:
