CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris has been accused by conservative activists of plagiarizing parts of a book she co-wrote more than a decade ago.
In an online post Monday, Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, cited analysis by so-called Austrian plagiarism hunter Stefan Weber, who was quoted by Harris on “Smart on Crime.” He claimed to have quoted “verbatim” from a source that had not been used. ”, which she co-wrote with Joan O’Shea. Hamilton.
Published in 2009, the year before Harris was elected California attorney general, the book draws on her experience prosecuting crimes ranging from child sexual assault to murder in Alameda County and San Francisco. is focused on. In his post, Rufo cited six specific paragraphs from Harris’ nearly 200-page book.
CNN reviewed some of the passages highlighted by Rufo, and Harris and O’C. Hamilton failed to properly attribute language to the source.
Plagiarism involves using someone else’s work without giving proper and appropriate credit to the other person’s ideas and words. Experts told CNN late last year that even if a source is cited, it is considered plagiarism if the idea is paraphrased or not cited in the correct place.
In one instance, Harris and O’C. Hamilton appear to have quoted some language from a John Jay College of Criminal Justice press release without proper attribution. An analysis of this book and the press release shows that the book copies the wording and sections of the press release exactly, but quotation marks are not used in some sentences.
However, the authors cite the press release as a source in a footnote next to the text.
Additionally, other quotes from portions of the press release are properly attributed.
Mr. Rufo also highlighted other examples that argue against Mr. Harris and Mr. O’Shea. Hamilton “quoted verbatim” from an NBC News report on a 2008 investigation into low graduation rates in city schools. CNN acknowledged that the wording was very similar in both the book and the NBC News report.
Harris and O’C. Hamilton cite the study in their book when using the study’s statistics, but not the NBC News article.
Harris’ campaign said the Democratic presidential candidate “clearly cites sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes” throughout the book.
“As President Trump retreats into a conservative echo chamber refusing to face questions about his lies, we look forward to seeing the bipartisan coalition of support Vice President Harris is building to win this election.” “This is a book published 15 years ago, and the vice president clearly cites sources and statistics throughout in footnotes and endnotes.” said Harris campaign spokesman James Singer.
Vice Presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance quickly seized on the conservative activist’s claims, writing on X, “Ramao Camara doesn’t even write his own book!” In another post, the Ohio Republican said he “wrote (his) book,” citing his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
