The publisher of Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2009 book on criminal justice reform is redirecting “very sensitive” inquiries about apparently plagiarized passages to the highest levels, according to the conservative activist who revealed the copying.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo — who first unveiled the plagiarism allegations on Monday — posted screenshots of leaked internal emails ordering publicity reps at Chronicle Books not to immediately respond to press inquiries about “Smart on Crime.”
Chronicle executive director of marketing and publicity Lauren Hoffman asked for all inquiries to be forwarded to her, with one employee on the email chain emphasizing that the accusations touched on “a very sensitive topic.”
“Kamala Harris’s publisher, Chronicle Books, is in damage control mode,” Rufo crowed on X. “They know Kamala lied. They know that we know Kamala lied. In America, plagiarism has become a moral pillar of the regime—and they will slander anyone who notices.”
Rufo posted five examples from the book in which passages nearly matched or were identical to wording used in press reports, academic studies and even a Wikipedia entry — all of which preceded the book’s publication.
The allegedly plagiarized sections came from a Bureau of Justice Assistance report in 2000, an Urban Institute report in 2004, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice press release describing a 2007 award, an Associated Press article in 2008, and a Wikipedia article‘s wording in a 2008 iteration.
In a statement to Semafor, Harris’ campaign dismissed the allegations of plagiarism as efforts by “rightwing operatives” who “are getting desperate” as the election approaches.
Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told Semafor in a Monday statement: “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.”
Two of the five examples cited the source material in footnotes — but none put the lifted wording in quotation marks. The Urban Institute report was not cited at all.
Rufo boasted that his team’s investigation got a boost from Austrian “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber, who helped compile a full report that included more than dozen “vicious plagiarism fragments” by the Democratic nominee.
The accusation of copying the sources word for word seemingly took Harris’ ghostwriter by surprise as well.
“Oh gosh,” Joan O’C. Hamilton told The Post on a brief phone call Monday. “I haven’t seen anything. … I’m afraid I can’t talk to you right now, though, I’m in the middle of something. Let me go try to figure that out.”
It’s unclear whether the plagiarism allegations will influence voters before heading to the polls Nov. 5.
President Biden bowed out of his 1987 presidential run after stealing phrases directly from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock — but the scandal wasn’t enough to keep him out of the White House decades later.
Neither Hoffman nor the Harris campaign immediately responded to a request for comment.
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