A new investigation has revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris allegedly plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her 2009 book, Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer. This revelation, which could become an “October surprise” ahead of the 2024 election, claims that Harris lifted passages from various sources, including a Wikipedia article, without giving proper credit.
Journalist Christopher Rufo broke the story, citing research from renowned “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber, who has previously exposed high-profile political figures for similar offenses. Weber found over a dozen instances in which Harris allegedly copied text, referring to them as “vicious plagiarism fragments.”
One of the most significant examples includes a section reportedly taken from a press release by John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which Harris presented as her own work without any attribution. In another instance, she allegedly copied language from an NBC News report on high school graduation rates, also without credit.
Perhaps most notably, Harris reportedly lifted a passage almost verbatim from a 2008 Wikipedia page detailing a New York Court program. Her reliance on the publicly editable site, long viewed as an unreliable academic source, led her to include an incorrect figure in her book, echoing the error present in the Wikipedia entry at that time.
These allegations could pose a significant challenge to Harris’ presidential campaign, casting doubts on the authenticity of her work and raising questions about her integrity as a candidate.
