Harris Campaign Makes Startling Admission About Trump After CNN Fact Check
The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumed presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, has made a surprising admission.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale reported that a Harris campaign official admitted to labeling all of former President Donald Trump’s policies as part of Project 2025, even though he has no connection to it, because they believe this strategy resonates with voters.
At a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Harris criticized Trump and “his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” saying: “Can you believe they put that thing in writing? Read it. It’s 900 pages. But here’s the thing. When you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare. He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill. They intend to end the Affordable Care Act. And take us back, then, to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre-existing conditions.”
CNN noted: “One of Harris’ claims about Project 2025 is false, while another is at least misleading. The Project 2025 document does not show that Trump intends to cut Social Security; the document barely discusses Social Security at all and does not propose cuts to the program. In addition, contrary to Harris’ suggestion, Project 2025 does not call to ‘end’ the Affordable Care Act or eliminate its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The document does criticize the Affordable Care Act, especially the law’s expansion of Medicaid, but makes clear it is advocating changes to the law rather than terminating the law entirely.”
“After the initial publication of this article, a Harris campaign spokesperson, Joseph Costello, added, ‘Project 2025 is a blueprint for many of the dangerous policies we know that a second Trump term would include, and it is indisputable that in his first term, Donald Trump repeatedly tried to cut Social Security and end the Affordable Care Act,’” CNN added.
The fact-check went on to debunk more of what the vice president and her team have claimed.
“We won’t render a verdict on Harris’ claim about Project 2025 calling for cuts to Medicare, though Trump himself has vowed he will not cut even a cent from the health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities. The Project 2025 document proposes multiple significant changes to Medicare, and it’s not clear what their overall impact would be,” it stated.
“And there is a reasonable basis for Harris’ claim about Project 2025 wanting to give tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations. The project’s proposals to significantly restructure the tax code include a reduction in the corporate income tax rate and ideas that would disproportionately benefit high earners. Trump’s own proposal to extend the expiring provisions of his 2017 tax cut law also favors wealthy people,” the fact-check noted.
“But contrary to Harris’ claim that ‘when you read’ the Project 2025 document ‘you will see’ that Trump intends to cut Social Security, the lengthy document includes no call to cut Social Security. In fact, the document uses the words ‘Social Security’ just 10 times, mostly in passing. Vought said the document calls for ‘no changes to Social Security,’” it added.
The Harris campaign has also suggested that Project 2025 aims to end the Affordable Care Act, but this claim is also false.
“The document criticizes the budget impact of the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program for lower-income people. It also explicitly calls for some changes to the Affordable Care Act – popularly known as Obamacare – or its implementation,” the fact-check said.
“Those suggested changes include removing restrictions on physician-owned and specialty hospitals, better enforcing a provision of the law related to how insurers must handle money related to abortion, and coming up with ‘a plan to separate the non-subsidized insurance market from the subsidized market,’” it stated.