CNN Fact-Checker Drops Bomb On Harris Over Her 'Fracking' Claim

CNN Fact-Checker Drops Bomb On Harris Over Her 'Fracking' Claim


Democrat presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris had a trainwreck interview alongside her pick for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and even the network she was on, CNN, had to fact check her.

During her interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash the vice president responded to her changed stance on a fracking ban when she said “I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”

When questioned again she said “In 2020, I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024, and I’ve not changed that position, nor will I going forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word.”

But CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, who joined anchor Abby Phillip after the interview, said she was not telling the truth.

“The fact check, bottom line, Abby, is that she did not actually make clear at a 2020 debate that she had changed her previous support for a fracking ban. So let me take you through this kind of saga. So here’s what she said at a CNN climate town hall in 2019 on the subject of a fracking ban,” the fact checker said before playing a clip from the 2019 town hall.

QUESTION: Will you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking your first day in office, adding the United States to the list of countries who have banned this devastating practice?

HARRIS: There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. So, yeah.

“That was quite clear,” the fact checker said.

“So she ended her 2020 presidential run in December 2019. The only debate she participated in in 2020 was the general election debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence. And I went over the transcript of that debate tonight.

“Nowhere in there does she make clear that she had abandoned her previous support for a fracking ban. Rather, she repeated that Joe Biden, the head of the Democratic ticket at the time, would himself not ban fracking. So listen to what she actually said in that 2020 debate,” he said before playing the clip.

“Joe Biden will not end fracking. He has been very clear about that. I will repeat, and the American people know, that Joe Biden will not ban fracking,” the vice president said.

“So it makes perfect sense that at the time she was speaking on behalf of Biden, the president, not the vice president, sets administration policy,” the fact checker said.

“But maybe other people feel differently. I certainly did not hear anywhere in there Kamala Harris saying that she personally had abandoned her previously expressed 2019 view. Rather, again, she was speaking for Joe Biden,” he said.


Poll

Join the Newsletter