Race Supporters Defend Kamala Harris After Conservative Publication Attacks Her With Plagiarism Accusations Two Weeks Before Election Day

By running against a candidate known for shading the reality, if not equating it with combat, Vice President Kamala Harris is positioning herself as someone who will be trusted.

But second round of accusations the indisputable fact that she plagiarized another person’s words without citing the source could undermine that credibility, providing a minimum of an unwelcome distraction in the ultimate two weeks of the campaign.

Slow warning signal in Washington reported on Tuesday that in written congressional testimony in 2007 supporting laws making a student loan repayment program for state and native prosecutors, Harris copied almost verbatim the writings of a Republican supporting the bill.

“Both statements cite the same surveys, use the same language and make the same points in the same order, with an added paragraph here or there,” The Free Beacon stated. “They even contain the identical typos, reminiscent of missing punctuation or incorrect plurals. One error – “who” must have been “who” – was corrected by Harris, then San Francisco’s district attorney.

Of the roughly 1,500 words Harris utilized in support John R. Justice Act, nearly 1,200 of them were literally rescinded from an announcement made two months earlier by Illinois Attorney Paul Logli, the Free Beacon reports. Both argued that the bill, which did not pass Congress, would help district attorneys’ offices recruit and retain top lawyers.

This comes just every week after conservative activist Christopher Rufo accused Harris for copying greater than a dozen passages from his 2009 book “Smart on Crime” from uncited sources. The book, co-authored with Joan O’C Hamilton, was the premise for her successful 2010 campaign for California Attorney General.

On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon also revealed that as California’s attorney general, Harris did greater than just borrow standard legal language without attribution. In one example, the report said it included a fictionalized story a couple of human trafficking victim for illustrative purposes by a nonprofit organization and presented it as an actual case.

The original story was published by the web site Polaris project, the nonprofit organization that operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which clearly states that these vignettes are for informational purposes only and that key details have been modified to guard your identity. However, in November 2012, Harris released a report wherein she used one in every of these vignettes almost verbatim, but with a big change: as an alternative of Washington, D.C., where the motion took place, Harris moved the rescue operation to San Francisco.

While initially downplaying Rufo’s allegations, plagiarism expert Jonathan Bailey he said The New York Times said the allegations were “more serious” than they initially appeared.

Plagiarism scandals have disrupted political campaigns previously, especially political campaigns Joe Biden’s first presidential term. A video of a speech by the then-Delaware senator, considered a powerful contender for the 1988 Democratic nomination, was shown next to a recording made years earlier by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. Biden apparently copied Kinnock’s words without citing the source and withdrew from the race every week after the video was released.

So far, the allegations against Harris have gained little publicity – Republican Party candidate Donald Trump barely mentioned it. Voters appear to have deeper concerns.

“I’d Rather Have a Department of Education, Certified Teachers, FDIC Insurance for Our Bank Deposits, Reproductive Health Care Without Fear of My Future DIL’s Arrest or Death, Access to Birth Control for My Son Because EVERYTHING DISAPPEARS, and Much More – If Trump Takes Office.” commented one Harris supporter.

Another noted that while unlucky, Harris’ accusation of copying pales as compared to her opponent, who, in keeping with The Washington Post, provided several 30,573 lies or misleading statements during his first term.

“Is this the best they can find?” added by user.

Philadelphia prosecutor Max Kennerly argued that the testimony didn’t constitute “‘plagiarism’ in any sense.”

“The National Association of District Attorneys has taken a position on an issue, and two board members have rightly stated the same position in congressional testimony two months apart,” he added. Kennerly said.

Harris has not yet commented on the 2007 congressional testimony. Her campaign actually addressed allegations of plagiarism in her book, saying it was much ado about nothing.

“Agents on the right are growing increasingly desperate as they see the bipartisan coalition of support Vice President Harris is building to win this election as Trump retreats into a conservative echo chamber, unwilling to face questions about his lies,” campaign spokesman James Singer told media . branches last week. “This is a book that has been in print for 15 years, and the vice president clearly cited sources and statistics in the footnotes and at the end.”

The man behind the statements she allegedly falsified in connection together with her congressional testimony said Harris’ staffers likely bear plenty of responsibility.

“I don’t think it’s an act of plagiarism as much as relying on people who helped write the statement by cutting and pasting,” Logli said. “They probably cut corners because they were overstretched.”