Fact check: Kamala Harris never called Joe Biden 'trash'; quote is from 2019 blog post
The claim: Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, called former Vice President Joe Biden "trash"
A viral post on Facebook claims that Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, called former Vice President Joe Biden "trash."
"I don't like Joe Biden and do not like his history with certain people or who he's aligned with, he's trash to me," the post reads.
It attributes the line to "Kamala Harris, June 2019."
The user behind the post did not respond to request for comment from USA TODAY.
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The quote — referencing the first primary debate — came from a blog, not Harris
The quote in the viral meme is actually from a blog post on the website FinFlam.com.
The post — dated June 28, 2019 — recapped the clash between Harris and Biden at the first Democratic presidential primary debate in June 2019.
At the time, Harris criticized Biden for speaking favorably of his ability to work alongside Democratic Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, both of whom opposed desegregation.
"It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country," Harris said. "And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing."
"There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day," she added. "And that little girl was me."
Biden called the attack a "mischaracterization" of his position.
Fact check: Kamala Harris was part of the second integrated class in elementary school
Notably, Harris prefaced her comments by noting that she does not think Biden is "a racist," and agreed with him on the "importance of finding common ground."
She never said that she thinks Biden is "trash," or that she didn't like him. (PolitiFact verified that the words returned no results in news archives on Nexis.)
Those specific words came from a line in the blog post in which the author offered their take on the interaction.
"I don’t like Joe Biden and do not like his history with certain people or who he’s aligned with, he’s trash to me," the author of the blog post wrote. "However, with that being said, Biden may be someone I don’t like but he does make a legitimate point when dealing with horrible people."
Fact check: Harris never called Biden a racist, said she believed some of his accusers
Our rating: False
Based on our research, the claim that Harris called Biden "trash" is FALSE. Though she criticized his favorable comments about two segregationist senators, Harris said she does not think Biden is a racist, and never called him "trash" or said she didn't like him. That quote came from a blog post, not Harris.
Our fact-check sources:
FinFlam.com, June 28, 2019, Kamala Harris Buries Joe Biden
The Washington Post, June 28, 2019, Transcript: Night 2 of the first Democratic debate
The New York Times, June 19, 2019, Biden, Recalling ‘Civility’ in Senate, Invokes Two Segregationist Senators
PolitiFact, August 19, Kamala Harris didn’t call Joe Biden “trash”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Kamala Harris never called Joe Biden 'trash'
