Harris Did Not Call Biden a Racist
The Claim
In a release, the Trump campaign said that Kamala Harris referred to Joe Biden previously as being racist.
News posted on
Emerging story
President Trump’s campaign stated in a press release that Joe Biden’s running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, once labeled the former Vice President as a racist. This claim subsequently went viral on social media, including twitter.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that the claim is fake. The statement made by the Trump campaign refers to the Democratic primary debate from June 2019. During the debate, one of the candidates, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, discussed a recent shooting, which then created a dialogue between the other Democratic candidates on stage. Senator Harris then criticized Joe Biden for citing two Southern segregationist senators by name as he defended himself over claims of being “old-fashioned” and warmly mentioned the “civility” of the Senate in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite Harris’s criticisms, Harris explicitly stated to Biden that she did not believe he was racist, and did not at any other point label him as such. The Misbar team read through the transcript of the debate and found no mention of Harris referring to Biden as racist.
