CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale called out Vice President Kamala Harris on her claim that she made it “clear” as early as 2020 that she would “not ban fracking as vice president.”
During her first interview since becoming Democratic nominee, CNN anchor Dana Bash questioned Harris on her evolving policies throughout her career, including when she changed her mind on fossil fuel extraction by fracking, a shift in stance from unequivocally supporting a ban through the Green New Deal when in Congress in 2019.
Bash asked Harris: “In 2019 you said, quote: ‘There is no question. I’m in favor of banning fracking.’ Fracking, as you know, is a pretty big issue, particularly in your must-win state of Pennsylvania. Do you still want to ban fracking?”
Harris replied: “No. And 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
Bash pressed the question again: “In 2019, I believe in a town hall, you were asked, would you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office and you said: ‘There’s no question. I’m in favor of banning fracking, so yes.’”
Harris repeated that her stance “changed in that campaign in 2020” and that she “made that very clear” – remaining in support of fracking in 2024.
In analysis on Thursday’s NewsNight hours after the interview Dale spoke with host Abby Phillip to tell her that the claim was not correct. He said:
The fact check bottom line 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.
He then ran back a clip of Harris from that time in which she said “there was no question” she was “in favor of banning fracking.” However, Dale wasn’t buying Harris’s claim.
Fast forward to 2020, and Harris was on stage debating then-Vice President Mike Pence, but there was no mention of abandoning her earlier position. Instead, she echoed then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s stance, emphasizing that the Democratic ticket wouldn’t ban fracking, leaving her personal shift in position unclear. Dale pointed out that Harris did not clarify her change in stance. He continued:
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.
The fact-checker then ran back a clip from the debate confirming his point. He added:
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, but maybe other people feel differently. I certainly did not hear anywhere in their Kamala Harris saying that she personally had abandoned her previously expressed 2019 view, rather again, she was speaking for Joe Biden all right.
Watch above on CNN.
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