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Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️@christopherrufo · Oct 14, 2024

EXCLUSIVE: Kamala Harris plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her criminal-justice book, Smart on Crime, according…

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Summary

An investigation claims Vice President Kamala Harris plagiarized multiple sections of her criminal-justice book "Smart on Crime," including material from Wikipedia, AP/NBC News, John Jay College press releases, and government reports without proper attribution. The investigation was conducted by Austrian plagiarism expert Dr. Stefan Weber and independently confirmed, with violations comparable to those found in former Harvard president Claudine Gay's doctoral thesis.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

  1. #1

    EXCLUSIVE: Kamala Harris plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her criminal-justice book, Smart on Crime, according to a new investigation. The current vice president even lifted material from Wikipedia. We have the receipts. 🧵

  2. #2

    The investigation was conducted by Dr. Stefan Weber, a famed Austrian "plagiarism hunter" who has taken down politicians in the German-speaking world. We independently confirmed multiple violations, which are comparable in severity to the plagiarism found in former Harvard president Claudine Gay's doctoral thesis.

  3. #3

    We can begin with a passage in which Harris discusses high school graduation rates. Here, she lifted verbatim language from an uncited AP/NBC News report:

  4. #4

    In another section of the book, Harris, without proper attribution, reproduced extensive sections from a John Jay College of Criminal Justice press release. She and her co-author passed off the language as their own, copying multiple paragraphs virtually verbatim. Here is the excerpt, with abbreviations, such as percentages and state names, treated as verbatim substitutions:

  5. #5

    In a section about a New York court program, Harris stole long passages directly from Wikipedia—long considered an unreliable source. She not only assumes the online encyclopedia's accuracy, but copies its language nearly verbatim, without citing the source. Here is Harris's language, based on the page as it appeared in December 2008, before she published the book:

  6. #6

    Harris also copied language from a Bureau of Justice Assistance report report, which was linked in the the Wikipedia entry. Here is the passage in Harris's book, with duplicated material in the other column:

  7. #7

    Finally, when attempting to write a description of a nonprofit group, Harris simply lifted promotional language from an Urban Institute report, and failed to cite her source:

  8. #8

    Read the full story about Kamala Harris's plagiarism problem exclusively at my newsletter: christopherrufo.com/p/kamala-harri…

  9. #9

    P.S. If you'd like to support my investigations into DEI, plagiarism, higher education, and the migrant crisis, you can become a paid subscriber here: christopherrufo.com/subscribe

  10. #10

    And special thanks to @buttonslives for the research assistance and the great graphics! 🥂