Fact Check: Did Kamala Harris Imply Ukraine is Part of NATO?

Yes.

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Right-wing websites like the Post Millennial, the New York Post, and Blaze Media published articles claiming Vice President Kamala Harris referred to Ukraine as a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance in a recent tweet. This claim was disputed by some on social media, who claimed Harris didn’t say anything of the sort: 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    If it were this war wouldn’t be happening.

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    BrettH

    Jeez, she just keeps on demonstrating that she’s not up to the task of being arguably the most irrelevant person in the executive branch (assuming the president can still breathe and make word noises come out of his pie hole).

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    MatthewRobin

    "The transcript listed on the White House website adds an “and” that Harris did not use in her speech"

    Is that ethical?

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      scott

      To be fair...(Letterkenny Style)...they didn't really use it it like a quote, so I guess you can change it to be correct. But to be realistic...c'mon, VP! You thought Ukraine was in NATO!? It's pretty obvious she thought that or didn't really have a strong grasp about what she was saying, right?

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    Chris L

    My takeaway from this article is that there's a site called, "Politwoops" and I can't get over how this so captures the fiber of Harris' being.

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  5. Raincheck

    I pray every night for Biden’s health…

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    Pat @ Tavi Hall

    Poorly written, but doubtful the VP wrote it. Some 20 something social media person or intern did.

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      CynthiaW

      That scenario would be even more pathetic.

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        Pat @ Tavi Hall

        As far as I am aware Trump was pretty unique in doing his own social media posts. My oldest was a congressional intern, his guy did not, I think that's the norm. I say GOOD to that norm.

        They may do some innocuous selfies at events, but I'd guess a lot of those are done by somebody else.

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          CynthiaW

          The twitting behavior of significant government officials has real-world impact. If the Vice President of the United States's account is twitting inaccurate information, the account should be shut down or limited to cat pictures. It is just (words fail me) this kind of thing happening.

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            Pat @ Tavi Hall

            I don't disagree. The problem is in my opinion is they don't need to be tweeting at all.

            I will also observe that there maybe a distinction between her Twitter and the VP's in terms of content. Certainly a campaign could not use the official one. I recall that staff had to take Trump off the official one and it may have even released corrections to trump's private one.

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    I guess Kamala grew up in a community that didn't allow children of color to watch "conjunction junction, what's your function"?

    I didn't even know airwaves could discriminate, but I learn something new every day.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Lord help us.

    I feel like Kamala went from most anticipated rising democratic star 5 years ago to badly written Seinfeld character today.

    It’s no wonder the majority of her team keeps leaving.

    She’s just…..a mess.

    Some people are a mess and step up (Zelensky) under pressure.

    Others were suppose to be hotshots and crash and burn (Kamala Harris) as a prime example from the dnc debates:

    https://youtu.be/arcepRVeAck

    Guess things haven’t changed much even with a mercy pick as VP.

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      Chris L

      To be fair, she was never a mercy pick, Biden just needed to check off the demographics boxes to shore up the far left. Just ask John Adams if being VP feels like a mercy. The role hasn't changed much since.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Victor Clairmont

        I’ll take it for half the salary.

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    2. Ingenero.lux

      The worst part is, the mess isn’t even why they’re leaving. Their leaving isn’t even causing the mess, for that matter. They’re leaving because she’s a jerk on a multi-decade power trip and no one in her orbit can tell her that because those criticisms automatically label the person making them racist and sexist, and the mess is caused because she blames her staff for all of her missteps and thus doesn’t put in the work needed to not make those missteps so she keeps making them. It turns out that when you insulate someone from criticism by telling them all of their critics are horrible people, you make horrible people who can’t really learn how horrible they’re being. The part that is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying is that the biggest concern for her handlers seems to be the impact on her political career, not that they’re enabling a terrible person to treat people horribly while doing a poor job in a position that is “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” (John Adams)

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      1. Ben Bobbitt

        Unfortunately for us, the vice presidency isn't so insignificant when the president is nearly 80 years old and can hardly string a sentence together.

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        1. Ingenero.lux

          Might not be significant, sure, but her only responsibility there is to stay breathing just in case she’s needed. But as for Harris’ official duties…that she’s screwed those up and driven off staff is rather impressive, in the same way that managing to die of overconsumption of licorice is impressive. Screwing up that badly takes a weird type of talent, one she apparently has in spades.

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    3. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      “… from most anticipated rising democratic star…”
      This was only for a short period. Her candidacy for president imploded rather quickly, which is why her selection by Biden was a surprise.

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      1. Avatar photo
        CynthiaW

        "Her candidacy for president imploded rather quickly ..."

        Before a single primary vote was cast, in fact. (Lest we forget ...)

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        1. Avatar photo
          Victor Clairmont

          I know, it is heartening to realize the majority of us minorities never bothered to support her.

          In any way, shape or form outside of California as far as I can tell.

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        Victor Clairmont

        Yes I know, it’s why I linked the Tulsi Gabbard smack down.

        Even if Tulsi is a bit of a crazy dove, that utter destruction was glorious, in the Chris Christie destroying Rubio way.

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          Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

          I remember the debates when she talked of working in the US military hospital over in iraq. Her "dovish" comments seemed sincere, or else she has a bright future in Hollywood, they were that good.

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          1. Avatar photo
            Victor Clairmont

            There’s no doubt she is sincere.

            And sincerely wrong.

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          2. Ingenero.lux

            Well, her husband is an entertainment lawyer, so a bright Hollywood future isn’t all that crazy of an idea…

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About Alec Dent

Alec Dent is the culture editor and a staff writer for The Dispatch. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously oversaw The Dispatch's fact checking team.
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