CNN fact-checks Harris' claim she now supports fracking: She said otherwise in 2020

CNN indicated Vice President Kamala Harris did not give an honest answer when she was asked about her flip-flop about the issue of fracking, something she said she had long been in favor of banning up until recently.

In her first interview since officially being the Democrats' nominee for president, Harris said she is not in favor of fracking, and that is something she made clear during the 2020 debate with former Vice President Mike Pence.

“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," Harris told host Dana 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?” Bash followed up.

Harris said while she has changed her stance on many policy issues since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, her 'values' have not changed.

"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," Harris insisted.

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale explained in the 2020 debate Harris repeatedly referenced that Harris did not make clear whether she was in favor of banning fracking. Rather, she simply said Joe Biden did not support banning fracking.

“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," Harris said at the time.

"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," Dale said.

In the interview with Bash released Thursday, an interview in which she was accompanied by running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris said while she has changed her stance on many policy issues since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, her "values" have not changed.

“Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You've mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed — and I've worked on it — that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time," Harris said.

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