Kamala Harris facing plagiarism allegations from 2009 book

WASHINGTON (TNND) — There has been some renewed attention on Kamala Harris’s statements from the past, including from her 2009 book "Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer" which she co-wrote with author Joan O'C. Hamilton, following research from an Austrian man, Dr. Stefan Weber who calls himself a "plagiarism hunter."

On X, Conservative activist Christopher Rufo posted side-by-side comparisons of passages without citations. Harris allegedly lifted from sites like The Urban Institute,The Bureau of Justice Assistanceand from a Wikipedia page,which turned out to be inaccurate.

During a campaign stop in Minneapolis Monday, Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance commented on the reports.

"I saw today actually, a story that Kamala Harris apparently copied some significant chunks of her book from Wikipedia. So if you want a President with their own ideas, vote for Donald Trump. If you want a President who copies her own ideas from Wikipedia, vote for Kamala Harris."

In a statement to multiple media outlets, the Harris Campaign fired back:

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," said James Singer, a Harris Campaign spokesman.

In an interview with The National News Desk, one plagiarism expert argued that while quotation marks should have been used, there does notappear to be intent to commit fraud.

"The source itself was quoted, and other times other passages were quoted, which gives an indication more of sloppy writing technique than sort of a deliberate attempt to plagiarize," saidJonathan Bailey, a New Orleans-based plagiarism expert.

Harris is certainly not the first to be accused of plagiarism.

The allegations tanked Joe Biden’s first presidential run in 1987 and former first lady Melania Trump’s 2016 convention speech directly lifted quotes from Michelle Obama’s convention speech.

As Donald Trump and Harris lay out their visions for the future, words from the past are being dredged up for the final weeks of the campaign.