Vice President Kamala Harris has been accused of plagiarizing part of her 2009 book, Smart on Crime.
Sections of her book were highlighted by journalist Christopher F. Rufo in a Medium article, as well as a thread on X, which pointed out that chunks bore similarities to Wikipedia entries. Rufo is well known for his plagiarism investigation into former Harvard President Claudine Gay.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), former President Donald Trump’s running mate, quickly highlighted the allegations that Harris plagiarized part of her book.
“Hi, I’m JD Vance. I wrote my own book, unlike Kamala Harris, who copied hers from Wikipedia,” Vance posted on X. Vance is well known for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy.
Vance subsequently mocked “corporate media ‘fact checkers.’”
“Cue the corporate media ‘fact checkers’: ‘Vance’s tweet is missing important context,’” he said. “‘Kamala Harris only copied some of her book from Wikipedia.’”
Harris wrote the book alongside ghostwriter Joan O’C. Hamilton, who told the New York Post she was surprised to hear about the alleged plagiarism.
“Oh gosh,” Hamilton reportedly said over the phone soon after the allegations were made online. “I haven’t seen anything. I’m afraid I can’t talk to you right now, though. I’m in the middle of something. Let me go try to figure that out.”
Hamilton and the vice president wrote the book when Harris was the district attorney in San Francisco. The book is about 200 pages long, and the allegations are about approximately 500 words.
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Harris’s campaign dismissed the allegations as an attack against her support.
“This is a book that’s been out for 15 years, and the vice president clearly cited sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes throughout,” Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told the New York Times.
