Harris Campaign Refutes Plagiarism Accusations Despite Media Investigation

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is facing renewed criticism following allegations of plagiarism in her 2009 book Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer. Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, working with Austrian academic Stefan Weber, uncovered several passages that bear strong similarities to other sources. These accusations have ignited debate among political observers, with media outlets both defending and scrutinizing the vice president.

The accusations surfaced when Rufo shared side-by-side comparisons of Harris’s writing and prior sources, highlighting five instances where sections from her book closely mirrored language from sources like Wikipedia, the Associated Press, and various reports from criminal justice institutions. These allegations claim that Harris’s book, co-written with Joan O’C. Hamilton, took content from articles and government reports without proper attribution. In some cases, citations were provided in footnotes but lacked the necessary quotation marks that would typically indicate verbatim excerpts. In other cases, no attribution was made at all.

#ComradeKamala is a Plagiarist😩. Her Book is going to bomb🙈. Why?? Who is Guiding her?? She keeps shooting herself in the foot. Both feet. pic.com/KH9jqDYSrf

— NotYourBankersHome (@Legalator) October 14, 2024

Stefan Weber, known as a “plagiarism hunter,” issued a report that detailed more examples of alleged copying. One instance involved the Goodwill Industries program, where Harris allegedly copied promotional content without proper citation. Another section involved details about a Subway store, which Harris reportedly altered to reference a sandwich shop clerk to better fit the context of her narrative. These findings raise questions about the transparency of the writing process for her book.

Responding to the allegations, Harris’s campaign spokesman, James Singer, dismissed the claims, stating, “This is a book that’s been out for 15 years, and the vice president clearly cited sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes throughout.” The campaign emphasized that none of the contested passages involved the theft of another writer’s original ideas but rather factual information and descriptions. Despite the defense, the controversy continues to swirl, as critics argue that proper academic standards were not followed.

While Kamala Harris is throwing the race card and white shaming, Taiwan and China are close to war, and Israel and Iran are at war.

They are evacuating the embassy in Beruit, Lebanon right now.

Harris is a POS. I said what I said.

Source: US Embassy .gov pic.com/zxZy2pSWqU

— The Constitutionalist 🇺🇸 (@WeWillBeFree24) October 14, 2024

The allegations have sparked outrage on social media, with many users drawing comparisons to past political scandals involving plagiarism. President Joe Biden, for example, faced similar accusations during his 1987 presidential campaign when he used passages from British politician Neil Kinnock without proper attribution. Many conservative voices have highlighted this historical parallel, with some suggesting that the issue reflects a deeper problem of intellectual dishonesty within the Democratic Party.

Criticism of Harris from the right has been fierce. One Twitter user wrote, “Of course she is a plagiarist! She’s a Marxist Commie and has never had her own original thought,” while others echoed the sentiment, calling into question her authenticity as a politician. These claims have fueled a wider narrative that portrays Harris as unoriginal and untrustworthy, a theme that has been recurrent in conservative critiques of her political career.

However, some media outlets have offered a more tempered view of the scandal. According to The New York Times, while Harris may have failed to properly attribute some information, the plagiarized passages do not rise to the level of the most serious offenses, which would involve the appropriation of someone else’s ideas or thoughts. The paper also noted that politicians have weathered similar storms in the past, and Harris’s plagiarism scandal, while embarrassing, might not have a lasting impact on her political career.

Despite these defenses, the timing of the allegations—just weeks before the 2024 presidential election—could be damaging. Harris has been on a media blitz, trying to shore up support as she prepares for what could be a tough battle in a divided political landscape. Whether this controversy will have lasting effects on her campaign remains to be seen, but it is clear that the issue has given her political opponents new ammunition to use against her.