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Dem Candidate Backtracks After Viral Blowups Against Staffer, Reporter

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2 months ago

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After more than a week of seeing her bad behavior aired out in public, Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA) is issuing a mea culpa.

The embattled frontrunner for governor of California has seen her campaign derailed by a series of videos showing her ugly side, including tirades against a staffer for getting in her shot and belittling a reporter for asking basic questions. Porter has maintained a slight lead in most polls to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom next year.

In a sign that the pressure became too much, Porter publicly apologized on Tuesday and said she has personally asked for forgiveness from the current or former members of her staff who appeared in the viral clips.

“When I look at those videos, I want people to know that I understand that I could have handled things better,” Porter said on the “Inside California Politics” show. “I think I’m known as someone who’s able to handle tough questions, who’s willing to answer questions, and I want people to know that I really value the incredible work that my staff can do.”

Questions about Porter’s fitness for chief executive of her home state began after a contentious interview with CBS California correspondent Julie Watts, when the reporter asked how the four-term lawmaker plans to win over Trump supporters who make up more than one in four voters.

“How would I need them in order to win, m’am?” Porter asked with dripping disdain.

Porter eventually held up both hands in a sign of impatience. “I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative,” she said after Watts tried multiple times to get an answer to her question. She added in the interview she doesn’t “want to have an unhappy experience” with Watts and that she doesn’t “want this all on camera.”

“I want to make sure that people understand why I am in this race and what I am fighting for. I think when I’m traveling the state, what I’m hearing from people is that they understand that we are in a very extraordinary moment,” Porter said this week after some relection.

“That what is happening with Donald Trump attacking our economy and our society, our long-standing challenges with affordability, people know that they are going to need someone who is going to be strong, who is going to be tough, who is going to be a fighter and who is going to push.”

“I think if people are looking for someone who is going to sit in Sacramento quietly and kind of rubber-stamp things, that’s not me. But I absolutely could have handled things better,” she also said, according to Fox News.

WATCH:

Porter’s embarrassing interview with Watts was quickly followed by leaked clips of Porter glaring at and berating her staff for failing to fix the lights for her video interview or getting in front of the screen for a brief second.
“Get out of my f—ing shot!” she yells in the undated clip.
Porter revealed this week that she has apologized to the young woman.

“I expressed that I was sorry, that I had lost my temper, that I had been frustrated in the moment, and I told her I was grateful that she had taken the time to correct me,” she said. “We were able to redo the shot, I got the facts right.”

The Daily Mail uncovered that Porter’s 2013 divorce with her ex-husband included “sadistic” allegations by him that Porter once poured scalding-hot potatoes on his head because she didn’t like the way he had cooked them.
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