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| - In the months leading up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, social media users shared a quote (archived) attributed to Vice President Kamala Harris that first circulated in 2021.
The passage alleged that the Democratic nominee threatened to block her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, in the courts and to use the military against his supporters. The full quotation read:
These Trumpers think we care about the constitution. We have the power now, It's time to end this They really don't get. [sic] We will block them in the courts, we will use federal law enforcement and the military. After Joe inflicts the death blow, I'll take the reigns [sic]. They will beg me for a loaf of bread.
Examples of the claim (archived) appeared on X (archived) and Instagram (archived) in August, September, and October 2024.
(X user @EvanVokesMSc)
However, as Snopes found when we first investigated the quote in 2021, there was no demonstrable evidence Harris ever said these words. For this reason, we have rated the quote as misattributed.
Some of the posts claimed Harris made the alleged remarks on Jan. 21, 2021, the day after she was sworn in as Joe Biden's vice president. As part of the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony, Harris took the oath of office, which reads in part: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
As we noted in our previous article, there was no evidence Harris said she did not care about the constitution, nor that she would use government powers to specifically target "Trumpers," at either of her Jan. 21, 2021, recorded events. Those events consisted of briefly calling in to the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting and speaking by phone with World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
There was also no evidence Harris made the statement — or anything resembling it — on social media. Harris' official vice presidential X account, @VP, shared four (archived) posts (archived) on Jan. 21 none (archived) of which (archived) included the quote investigated here. The three (archived) posts (archived) from that date (archived) that appeared on her official @VP Instagram account also did not include any statements resembling the quote. Her personal X account, @KamalaHarris, made no posts that day, nor did her personal Facebook or Instagram accounts.
Reuters and USA TODAY both independently investigated the quote and likewise found no evidence it was legitimate. In 2021, Sabrina Singh, who was at the time the deputy press secretary for the vice president, told Reuters that Harris never said the words attributed to her.
Snopes' archives contributed to this report.
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