CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale took exception to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that she “made clear” she didn’t support a fracking ban in 2020.
Harris has raised eyebrows in recent weeks because of various policy flip-flops she has undergone as the Democratic nominee in 2024 versus the far-left stances she embraced in the previous election cycle, including on fracking. Back in 2019, she called for a complete ban.
During an interview Thursday with CNN’s Dana Bash, Harris was asked point-blank whether she still supported a ban on fracking.
“No, and I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking,” Harris said. “As vice president. I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”
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When pressed whether her fracking views changed during the 2020 campaign, Harris doubled down, telling Bash, “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.”
“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,” Dale reacted during CNN’s post-interview coverage.
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After playing a 2019 clip of Harris saying there’s “no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Dale pointed to comments she made in the vice-presidential debate when she said “Joe Biden will not end fracking. He’s been very clear about that.”
“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 there about Kamala Harris saying that she personally had abandoned her previously expressed 2019 view. Rather, again, she was speaking for Joe Biden,” Dale concluded.
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Dale wasn’t the only liberal journalist who took Harris to task. NBC News correspondent Yamiche Alcindor also called out Harris’ non-explanation for her policy shifts, writing “Harris keeps saying ‘my values haven’t changed’ while not explaining why her positions have changed.”
Harris had gone nearly a whopping 40 days before sitting down for an interview since she emerged as the Democratic nominee. Her reluctance to grant interviews and hold press conferences was increasingly criticized, which only intensified following last week’s Democratic convention.
The VP also was slammed for doing her very first interview alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rather than a solo sit-down.
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