Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has peddled a series of hoaxes as a U.S. senator and vice president, a Washington Free Beacon analysis found. Here are the seven most egregious hoaxes pushed by Harris, author of the memoir “The Truths We Hold.”
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has peddled a series of hoaxes as a U.S. senator and vice president, a Washington Free Beacon analysis found.
Here are the seven most egregious hoaxes pushed by Harris, author of the memoir The Truths We Hold.
Jussie Smollett
“Jussie Smollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know”, Harris wrote on Jan. 29, 2019.
Days earlier, the actor claimed two Trump supporters in “MAGA” hats brutally beat him on a Chicago street as they shouted anti-gay and anti-black slurs. Harris joined a swarm of celebrities and Democratic politicians in denouncing the attack, which they claimed was an example of the rising tide of hate crimes in the Trump era.
“This was an attempted modern day lynching”, Harris wrote.
But it was all an elaborate lie. Smollett had hired two friends, both black, to stage an attack on him to garner public sympathy. He was convicted of making false statements to police and sentenced to 150 days in jail.
Harris lightly criticized Smollett after his ruse was exposed, saying she was “sad, disappointed, and frustrated.”
But Harris, the former attorney general of California, quickly pivoted to using Smollett’s lie as a teachable moment about the scourge of legitimate hate crimes across the country. “At the same time, we must speak the truth: hate crimes are on the rise in America”, said Harris, who has repeatedly dodged questions about her facilitation of the Smollett hoax.
Horse-riding border agents whipped Haitian migrants
In September 2021, photographs went viral of horse-riding Customs and Border Protection agents attempting to round up a group of Haitian migrants who had illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. It stoked outcry from liberals, who claimed the photos showed the agents using whips to hunt down black migrants—evoking images of the slave patrols of yesteryear.
Harris, who served as the administration’s “border czar”, joined in the fray, accusing the federal agents of “horrible” atrocities against the Haitian migrants. “But human beings should never be treated that way and I am deeply troubled by it”, said Harris, who called for a “thorough investigation.”
An internal investigation debunked all of the most serious allegations against the border agents. While it found examples of inadequate policies and training, the supposed whips seen in photographs were actually reins for the horses, which border agents often ride in rough terrain.
” The investigation found no evidence that agents struck any person with horse reins”, the investigation found.
Not only were the migrants unharmed, they were allowed to remain in the United States. “There is no evidence that any migrants were forced to return to Mexico or denied entry to the United States”, the report said.
Harris has not apologized for her remarks.
