CNN fact-checker criticizes Kamala Harris for claiming she “made it clear” in 2020 that she would not ban fracking

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale disputed Vice President Kamala Harris’s claim that she had “made it clear” that she did not support a fracking ban in 2020.

Harris has attracted attention in recent weeks for making several policy U-turns as the 2024 Democratic candidate, in contrast to the far-left positions she took in the previous election cycle, including on the issue of fracking. Back in 2019, she called for a complete ban.

During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday, Harris was asked directly whether she still supports a ban on fracking.

“No, and I made it clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I will not ban fracking,” Harris said. “As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”

NBC’S CHUCK TODD CONDEMNS KAMALA HARRIS’ ‘MISTAKE’ OF AVOIDING THE PRESS: ‘EVERY FUMBLE’ IS ‘OVER-INSPECTED’

When asked if her views on fracking had changed during the 2020 campaign, Harris stuck to her guns, telling Bash, “In 2020, I made it very clear where I stand. We are in 2024 and I have not changed that position and I will not do so in the future. I have kept my word and I will keep my word.”

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

“The bottom line of the fact check … is that she did not really make it clear at a debate in 2020 that she had changed her previous support for a fracking ban,” Dale responded during CNN’s coverage after the interview.

Kamala Harris gives her first interview to CNN after avoiding the press for weeks. Tim Walz will be there

After playing a 2019 clip in which Harris said there was “no question that I support a ban on fracking,” Dale referenced her comments in the vice presidential debate in which she said, “Joe Biden is not going to end fracking. He’s made that very clear.”

“It makes perfect sense that she spoke on behalf of Biden at the time. The president, not the vice president, determines the policy of the administration, but perhaps other people see it differently. In any case, I have never heard Kamala Harris say that she personally had abandoned her previous opinion expressed in 2019. Rather, as I said, she spoke for Joe Biden,” Dale concluded.

CNN HOST: DID HARRIS ‘WAIT TOO LONG’ TO ARRANGE HER FIRST INTERVIEW?

Dale was not the only liberal journalist to take Harris to task. NBC correspondent Yamiche Alcindor also criticized Harris’ lack of explanation for her change of course, writing: “Harris keeps saying ‘my values ​​have not changed’ without explaining why her positions have changed.”

Harris had waited nearly 40 days since being named the Democratic nominee before she was able to sit down for an interview. Her reluctance to give interviews and hold press conferences has faced increasing criticism, which only intensified after the Democratic National Convention last week.

The vice president was also criticized for giving her very first interview together with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, rather than alone.

Source of the original article: CNN fact-checker criticizes Kamala Harris for claiming she “made it clear” in 2020 that she would not ban fracking