Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday sidestepped a question about the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, but the Zambian president decided to address the issue.
Harris and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema held a joint press conference on Friday as the vice president begins to wrap up his trip to the African continent.
The pair were asked for their reactions after the 2024 Republican presidential candidate was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday, following a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
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Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday she would not comment on the impeachment of former President Donald Trump. (Pool/Fox News)
LUSAKA, – MARCH 31: Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Lieutenant Doug Emhoff disembark from Air Force Two at the Kenneth Kuanda International Airport on Friday, March 31, 2023, in Lusaka, Zambia. ((Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images))
“I’m not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case involving the former president,” Harris told reporters.
However, Hichilema took the question and tried to explain his feelings on the matter from the perspective of the Zambian government.
“The impeachment of President Trump – what does this mean for the rule of law? Let’s take the names out of your question,” Hichilema told the reporter. “Let’s put what we decided we were going to do to govern ourselves in an orderly manner. (We) adopted our constitutions, the basic law. Then secondary laws, other regulations create a platform or a framework that we agreed upon as Americans or Zambians. . to govern ourselves and therefore to live within these limits.”
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Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Friday reacted to former President Donald Trump’s accusation: “When there is transgression against the law, it does not matter who is relevant.” (Pool/Fox News)
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema cuts the ribbon as he attends the commissioning ceremony of the fifth generator of Zambia’s Kafue Gorge Lower Hydroelectric Power Plant in Southern Province on March 24, 2023. (Peng Lijun/Xinhua via Getty Images)
“And when there’s a transgression against the law, it doesn’t matter who’s involved. I think that’s what the rule of law means. This is universal,” he continued.
Hichilema compared Trump’s impeachment and partisan tensions to corruption in his own nation.
“And here, Vice President, we have a scenario where we fight against corruption that has taken away resources from children and the sick; sometimes names are thrown and perceptions are created that are totally inappropriate,” Hichilema said. “Because of violations against the law, if you take what belongs to the public, you have violated the law and the name does not matter.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hands with Tanzanian Vice President Dr. Philip Mpango upon arrival at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam at the end of her visit to Tanzania in Lusaka, Zambia on March 31, 2023. (ERICKY BONIPHACE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump was indicted as part of a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, possibly for bribery.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is investigating Trump over payments he made before the 2016 presidential election.
These include a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Fox News Digital has learned.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Lieutenant Doug Emhoff disembark from Air Force Two at Kenneth Kuanda International Airport, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Lusaka, Zambia. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In 2018, hush money payments to McDougal and Daniels were revealed and reported by Fox News. The payments were investigated by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York decided to charge Trump in 2019 in connection with the Daniels payment, despite Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen being implicated as part of his plea deal. The FEC also launched an investigation into the matter in 2021.
Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com