DETROIT, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Vice President Kamala Harris has been ramping up her tough-on-crime narrative, spotlighting her commitment to justice for child victims of sexual abuse. Speaking at various rallies, including a stop in Detroit on August 8th, Harris has been emphasizing her prosecutorial record, including sharing the story of Wanda, a childhood friend who was a victim of abuse. In a Detroit speech in August, she talked about “justice for all,” how she “took on perpetrators of all kinds” and has said that she specialized in cases of sexual abuse in her past.

Framing her campaign as a battle between a seasoned prosecutor (herself) and a convicted felon, (Trump) Harris has been highlighting her law-and-order credentials in her campaign to be president. Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel has also chimed in, backing Harris’s claims of protecting children and cracking down on sexual predators.

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But Harris and Nessel’s narrative is far from the full story. Harris’s time as District Attorney in San Francisco reveals a different story – one where she allegedly protected pedophile priests within the Catholic Church rather than taking them on – or releasing records so that others could.

In 2004, when Harris became the District Attorney of San Francisco, she inherited files compiled by her predecessor Terence Hallinan, who had aggressively pursued cases of clergy sexual abuse. Hallinan’s team was going full throttle, taking on predatory priests and fighting for victims’ rights. But when Harris took over, that fiery pursuit suddenly went cold. Victims and their lawyers were shut out from those crucial files. The records were locked away, never to see the light of day.

Harris’s refusal to release the church’s internal personnel files wasn’t just a minor oversight; it was a glaring act of inaction that allowed possible abusers to escape scrutiny. These files contained vital evidence that could have helped victims in civil cases, especially after the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision that blocked criminal prosecution of past abuse due to expired statutes of limitations left civil court lawsuits the only path for victims seeking justice.

A missing chapter in Harris’s career.

Joey Piscitelli, a Catholic Clery sex abuse victim when he was a minor, current Northern California spokesman for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), and long-time critic of Harris, described to Michigan News Source how Harris refused to release files containing the names of accused priests, unlike every other DA in California.

He says her excuse was that she was protecting the identities of the victims but Piscitelli calls that “bullsh*t.” He explained, “The reason why she’s full of sh*t is in California, if law enforcement, DA or courts release information about child molestation or child rape, the victims names are automatically redacted. They will not give out the names of somebody who was under the (age of) 18, who was sexually molested. They will not do that. It’s law.”

He went on to say, “So she’s saying she’s protecting the victims names – that’s why she didn’t release the files. It’s pure bullsh*t, because our names, us victims, our names are blacked out. The only names that appear in the files released to the public are the predators names and the rapists names.”

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Piscitelli, a whistleblower against the Catholic church, had pressed Harris for accountability and action. He protested at her office, wrote letters, and passed out flyers – but he says she ignored him, other victims and the press for years. During her tenure as District Attorney in San Francisco and also as the Attorney General of California, Piscitelli said that despite having all of the “ammunition” that she needed, Harris never took action against the accused predators in the church.

Piscitelli said, “Kamala Harris didn’t prosecute any of the 1100 accused clergy sex abusers of children that we (victims advocates) have a list of, nor did she investigate them. She hails herself as being a champion prosecutor of child sex abusers, but when she was ‘top-cop’, DA, and AG in San Francisco, for a total of 15 years, she did absolutely nothing at all to prosecute or investigate the hundreds and hundreds of accused child abuse cases she could have looked into.”

Destroyed evidence?

Piscitelli believes Harris’s office may have also destroyed critical records before her senatorial and vice-presidential runs, concealing the extent of her inaction. He was told by a member of the media four years ago when Harris was running for VP that her office destroyed the files. Piscitelli says that if it’s true, no one will ever know how many names were in the files, to what extent the sexual abuse was happening, and how many people could have been prosecuted, adding “we don’t know the extent of that we don’t know.”

Other abusers speak out.

Terence McAteer, another abuse survivor, criticized Harris’s secrecy in a 2019 interview with The Intercept where he said, “Why not tell the story? I have no problem with my file being released. I don’t have any great secrets. It’s already in the newspaper. I think the whole cloak of secrecy with the Catholic Church needs to be exposed.”

Dominic De Lucca, a resident of Burlingame, California, who says he was raped by a local priest at age 12, expressed his shock over Kamala Harris’s reluctance to aggressively pursue clergy abuse cases or release the related files. “I remember Kamala Harris,” said De Lucca. “She didn’t want to have any meetings. She wanted the public to think this is an issue that happened years ago, that it doesn’t happen anymore. Let’s just move on.”

Political favors over justice?

Many have speculated that Harris’s refusal to release the files was a move to avoid antagonizing the Catholic Church’s powerful influence. According to Michael Meadows, an attorney representing abuse survivors, Harris’s stance seemed politically motivated. He told the Associated Press, “There’s a potential political risk if you move aggressively against the church,” said Meadows. “I just don’t think she was willing to take it.”

Rick Simons, another attorney for the victims, agreed telling the AP, “Of all the DAs in the Bay Area, she’s the only one who wouldn’t cooperate with us.” Harris’s office stonewalled public record requests from the media as well as requests from the victims, insisting that her decisions were about the protecting victims – though critics saw it as protecting powerful institutions instead.

Kamala’s carefully curated image.

Today, Harris touts her record as a champion for victims, but survivors like Piscitelli, McAteer, and others tell a different story: one of missed opportunities and a deeply compromised sense of justice. Piscitelli, who won a civil lawsuit against the Catholic religious order that employed his abuser, remains outspoken. “She (Harris) shielded pedophiles,” he said.

Kamala Harris’s selective battles against predators in her past – appearing more aligned with boosting her political career than delivering justice for vulnerable victims – casts a dark cloud over her image as a fearless prosecutor. As revealed by Piscitelli, Harris’s refusal to take action against alleged pedophiles within the Catholic Church, despite having the authority, raises serious questions about her true dedication to justice. Voters might rightly ask whether someone who sidestepped confronting predators when it counted can be trusted to lead a nation.