Barrett deflects Harris' questions on whether she knew Trump wanted anti-ObamaCare nominee

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett faced some of her toughest questions Tuesday during her Senate confirmation hearing from Sen. Kamala Harris, who pressed Barrett on a range of questions – most pointedly on whether President Trump wanted a nominee who would help overturn ObamaCare.

Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee and a former California prosecutor, was expected to ask some of the toughest questions.

Barrett responded at least twice to Harris’ questions about Trump's tweets about wanting to appoint an anti-ObamaCare judge.

"Many of the Democratic senators wanted to know about the Affordable Care Act, and to satisfy themselves that I had not made any pre commitments to the president about it," said Barrett, referring to her pre-hearing Capitol Hill interviews.

Harris opened her questioning with a lengthy statement in which she said the GOP Senate had "rushed" to hold Barrett's hearing, instead of focusing on the coronavirus pandemic.

"As President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Senate Republicans' number one priority has been to tear it down," said Harris, who questioned Barrett via video conferencing. "People are scared."