CNN Fact-Checker Daniel Dale: Harris Was Not Accurate on Fracking Comments

PHILLIP: “CNN’s Daniel Dale joins us now with more. Daniel, let’s listen to these comments that Vice President Harris made about her position on fracking.”

[Clip starts]
BASH: “When you were in Congress, you supported the Green New Deal. And in 2019, you said, quote, “There is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” Fracking, as you know, is a pretty big issue, particularly in your must-win state of Pennsylvania.”
Harris: “Sure.”
BASH: “Do you still want to ban fracking?”
Harris: “No. And I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”
BASH: “In 2019, I believe, at a town hall, you said — you were asked, ‘Would you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office?’ And you said, ‘There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. So, yes.’ So, it changed in that campaign?”
Harris: “In 2020, I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024, and I’ve not changed that position nor will I, going forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word.”
[Clip ends]

PHILLIP: “So, Daniel Dale is here. Daniel, she said there that she’s made her position clear in 2020. Tell us what the truth is of that.”
Dale: “The fact-check bottom line, Abby, is that she did not actually make clear at a 2020 debate that she had changed her previous support for a fracking ban. So, let me take you through this kind of saga. So, here’s what she said at a CNN climate town hall in 2019 on the subject of a fracking ban.”

[Clip starts]
UNKNOWN: “Will you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking your first day in office, adding the United States to the list of countries who have banned this devastating practice?”
Harris: “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. So, yeah.”
[Clip ends]

Dale: “That was quite clear. So, she ended her 2020 presidential run in December of 2019. The only debate she participated in in 2020 was the general election debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence. And I went over the transcript of that debate tonight. Nowhere in there does she make clear that she had abandoned her previous support for fracking ban. Rather, she repeated that Joe Biden, the head of the Democratic ticket at the time, would himself not ban fracking. So, listen to what she actually said in that 2020 debate.”

[Clip starts]
Harris: “Joe Biden will not end fracking. He has been very clear about that. (...) I will repeat, and the American people know, that Joe Biden will not ban fracking.”
[Clip ends]

Dale: “So, it makes perfect sense that at the time she was speaking on behalf of Biden. The president, not the vice president, sets administration policy. But maybe other people feel differently. I certainly did not hear anywhere in there Kamala Harris saying that she personally had abandoned her previously expressed 2019 view. Rather, again, she was speaking for Joe Biden.”
PHILLIP: “All right, Daniel Dale, thank you very much. Donald Trump, he’s been giving his thoughts about tonight’s interview on Truth Social, he spoke to some reporters. I mean, it’s gone about how you would expect.”