'LMAO… Wikipedia,’ JD Vance mocks Harris over alleged plagiarism in 2009 book on criminal reform
Harris faces allegations of plagiarism in her 2009 book, with claims suggesting she copied passages from various sources without proper citations
Kamala Harris is under scrutiny for alleged plagiarism in her 2009 book, Smart on Crime. Conservative activist Christopher Rufo has highlighted several passages that appear to mirror content from other sources closely. Kamala Harris is under scrutiny for alleged plagiarism in her 2009 book, Smart on Crime.
In reaction, Senator JD Vance trolled Harris for reportedly using Wikipedia, claiming that he at least authored his own book. Rufo shared images on X, comparing them to the source material that predates the publication of the co-authored book by the Vice President.
JD Vance mocks Kamala Harris over plagiarism accusations
Fresh off sparring with ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz over her “nitpicking” of Donald Trump's comments on the presence of the Venezuelan gang “Tren de Aragua” in Colorado, Trump’s running mate is now stepping into the shade game.
Soon after Christopher Rufo outlined German plagiarism expert Stefan Weber’s findings regarding the book’s lack of proper citations, Senator JD Vance took a dig, tweeting, “Lmao, Kamala didn't even write her own book!”
In a separate post, the Ohio senator wrote, “I wrote my own book, unlike Kamala Harris, who copied hers from Wikipedia,” referring to his book Hillbilly Elegy.
But that wasn’t all. Vance, clearly frustrated with some media drama, then called out the “corporate media fact checkers,” saying, “Cue the corporate media ‘fact checkers’: ‘Vance's tweet is missing important context. Kamala Harris only copied some of her books from Wikipedia.’”
Kamala Harris accused of plagiarism
The Democratic nominee, who entered the presidential race after Biden dropped out, is facing criticism after a study by German plagiarism expert Stefan Weber revealed that Harris copied several sections of her book Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer from other sources without proper credit.
“Kamala Harris fabricated a source reference, inventing a nonexistent page number. The self-promotional content from Goodwill Industries was copied verbatim without citing the source (Goodwill Industries was her ‘primary partner’ on in the ‘Back on Track’ program),” Weber wrote.
Stefan Weber argues that Kamala Harris's approach to sourcing in her book lacks transparency and honesty. He points out that even when sources are cited with footnotes, the text is often copied and pasted without appropriate quotation marks.
At that time, Harris served as the district attorney of San Francisco and collaborated with ghostwriter Joan O'C. Hamilton on the book. When The Post contacted Hamilton about the allegations, she expressed her surprise.” Oh Gosh,” she exclaimed. “I haven’t seen anything,” she added. “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.”
The outlet further noted that the claims detail five passages that appear to be lifted from a 2008 Associated Press article, a Wikipedia entry, a Bureau of Justice Assistance report, an Urban Institute report from 2004, and a Criminal Justice press release.
