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Hear, hear: This video doesn’t show Kamala Harris talking through a secret earpiece in 2019
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Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t wear a secret earpiece during the Sept. 10 presidential debate, and claims that she wore the same earpiece disguised as earrings during a 2019 interview are also wrong.
Claims that Vice President Kamala Harris wore earphone earrings during the Sept. 10 presidential debate against former President Donald Trump are baseless.
But a recent social media post offers up new purported evidence.
"Video shows Kamala responding to someone talking through her earrings that she allegedly wore during the Trump vs. Harris debate," the Sept. 29 Instagram post said. "BUSTED!! Those same earrings she wore at the debate!"
The post includes a video of Harris explaining a turkey brining recipe to the camera when she suddenly touches her ear.
"Oh yes, hi," Harris says. "Yes, I’m here."
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
Let’s get a few things out of the way: The video doesn't show Harris talking to someone through her earrings, which are different than the pair she wore during the debate.
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Journalist Jonathan Capehart posted the video on X in 2019.
"How much does @KamalaHarris like to cook?" he wrote. "She answered my husband’s ? about brining a turkey about 1 min before going on @PoliticsNation from Columbia, SC (after I was on). I recorded her response ‘cause I don’t cook and she was speaking a foreign language."
This version of the video shows that Harris is adjusting an in-ear monitor that’s attached to cords and a receiver sitting next to her.
Harris appeared on MSNBC’s "Politics Nation" on Nov. 24, 2019, remotely from Columbia, South Carolina. Footage of that interview, which is crisper than the clip that appears in the Instagram post, shows her wearing gold earrings.
During the debate, Harris wore pearl earrings.
Neither pair was a secret earpiece.
We rate this post Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Instagram post, Sept. 29, 2024
X post, Nov. 26, 2019
MSNBC, Sen. Kamala Harris: 'Republicans need to put country over party,’ Nov. 24, 2019
PolitiFact, Kamala Harris was not wearing ‘audio earrings’ at debate, but false claims took off anyway, Sept. 11, 2024
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Hear, hear: This video doesn’t show Kamala Harris talking through a secret earpiece in 2019
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