CLAIM: A video shows Vice President Kamala Harris saying in a speech: “Today is today. And yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. So live today, so the future today will be as the past today as it is tomorrow.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered video. The original footage, from a rally on reproductive rights at Howard University last Tuesday, does not contain this quote.
THE FACTS: In the days after Harris headlined the rally in Washington, D.C., a real clip of her speech was mocked by Republicans, with one critic dubbing it a “word salad.”
In the real footage, Harris said says: “So I think it’s very important — as you have heard from so many incredible leaders — for us, at every moment in time, and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past, but the future.”
But over the weekend, social media users began sharing a version of the video that had been altered to change the audio so that Harris appears to be rambling incoherently.
“Today is today. And yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. So live today, so the future today will be as the past today as it is tomorrow,” Harris appears to say in the 22-second clip.
The altered clip was first posted on Friday by an account that frequently posts footage of politicians that have been edited for comedic effect. While many users shared their video as a joke, others suggested it was real.
“If you get what Kamala Harris is saying yesterday then tell me tomorrow so that I can make my past better #KamalaHarris,” reads one tweet with a version of the video that had been viewed more than 29,000 times as of Tuesday.
The original footage was live streamed by NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights nonprofit whose president also spoke at the rally. That footage shows Harris making the “moment in time” remark, but not the “today is today” comment.
The White House’s transcript of Harris’ remarks also does not include the statement from the altered video.
Harris’ appearance at the event at Howard University, her alma mater, came the same day that President Joe Biden announced their reelection bid.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
