Kamala Harris’ First Rally Fact-Checked

Kamala Harris took to the stage Tuesday in Wisconsin for her first major presidential campaign rally in the crucial battleground state.

Following Biden’s announcement Sunday that he would step down from the presidential race, Harris has since secured enough support from Democratic delegates to win her party’s nomination to challenge GOP nominee Donald Trump, the Associated Press reported.

Harris used her speech to celebrate her achievements and attack Trump on his presidential record and what she said were his plans for another White House term.

Newsweek has examined the vice president’s remarks. Media representatives for Harris and Trump have been contacted via email for comment.

Prosecuting For-Profit Colleges

Harris heralded her record on prosecuting for-profit colleges that exploited students and attacked Trump on that point.

“As attorney general of California, I took on one of our country’s largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students,” Harris said. “Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students.”

As California’s attorney general, Harris sued Corinthian Colleges Inc. in 2013, accusing the company of predatory and unlawful practices. A judge ruled in 2016 that the company’s advertising practices misled students and broke the law, the Los Angeles Times reported.

At its height, Corinthian Colleges was one of the largest for-profit education companies in North America, with more than 100 campuses and more than 80,000 students enrolled in 2013. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015.

Trump University, the unaccredited and for-profit company founded by the former president, shut down in 2010. It soon became the focus of multiple investigations into illegal business practices and lawsuits from former students who alleged that they were the victims of deceptive marketing techniques and fraud.

Trump’s $1 Billion ‘Promise’ to Oil Lobbyists

One of Harris’ attack lines has been Trump’s proximity and relationship with wealthy corporate leaders and influencers. On Tuesday, she referred specifically to a story that he tried to leverage oil lobbyists for campaign funding.

“A couple of months ago, y’all saw that a couple months ago at Mar-a-Lago, he literally promised big oil companies, big oil lobbyists, he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations,” Harris said.

This refers to news in May that Trump had told a group of oil executives and lobbyists that they should give his campaign $1 billion because he would end environmental rules.

The Washington Post reported that Trump said the $1 billion donation would be a “deal,” given the relaxation of taxes and regulations he would implement to their benefit.

Trump’s Ties to Project 2025

The vice president took aim at Project 2025, the controversial conservative policy agenda that many believe will be adopted by Trump should he be elected.

“He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class, like we know,” she said. “We gotta take this seriously. Can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Trump has denied his association with Project 2025, calling some of the ideas within it “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”

However, a number of the policy ideas in Project 2025 match or echo those of Trump’s, as a recent Newsweek analysis found. A CNN investigation earlier this month said at least 140 people who worked for Trump were involved in Project 2025’s creation.

Trump Plans for Social Security, Medicare, ACA

Harris also suggested that Trump “intends to cut Social Security and Medicare” and intends “to end the Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

However, Trump’s policy platform states he would not introduce cuts to Social Security or Medicare. Point 14 of the agenda says his administration would “fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age.”

During his presidency, Trump maintained his stance against the ACA, often referred to as Obamacare, but now says his approach would be softer if he’s reelected.

“I’m not running to terminate the ACA, AS CROOKED JOE BUDEN DISINFORMATES AND MISINFORMATES ALL THE TIME, I’m running to CLOSE THE BORDER, STOP INFLATION, MAKE OUR ECONOMY GREAT, STRENGTHEN OUR MILITARY, AND MAKE THE ACA, or OBAMACARE, AS IT IS KNOWN, MUCH BETTER, STRONGER, AND FAR LESS EXPENSIVE,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in March.

He went on: “IN OTHER WORDS, MAKE THE ACA MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BETTER FOR FAR LESS MONEY (OR COST) TO OUR GREST [sic] AMERICAN CITIZENS, WHO HAVE BEEN DECIMATED BY BIDEN, HIS RECORD INFLATION, BAD ECONOMY, AFGHANISTAN CATASTROPHE, AND JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE.”

Trump’s claim that he would merely reform the ACA remains to be seen, and Democrats are saying his previous promises to end it suggest that these pledges should not be trusted.

His policy platform does not give more detail about its plans for the ACA. It states: ” Republicans will increase Transparency, promote Choice and Competition, and expand access to new Affordable Healthcare and prescription drug options.”

In April, the Biden-Harris campaign put together a compilation of the former president’s remarks about “terminating” Obamacare since 2016, with the most recent comment made in December 2023.

Trump’s Tax Breaks for ‘Billionaires, Big Corporations’

Harris also aimed at Trump’s purported efforts to support the richest in society.

“He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill,” she said.

While Trump has not spelled out his tax plans, there is an element of truth in Harris’ remark.

In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Trump said he would support cutting the corporate tax to 15 percent from 21 percent, a cut he revealed in a 2016 tax reform plan.

“I liked 20 percent better,” he said. “I like 15 percent yet better, but I think that would be, you know, that’d be hard.”

Under 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), set to expire in 2025, income tax brackets for all but the lowest earners were lowered, with the richest Americans now paying less taxes than members of the working class.

Democratic press releases about planned billionaire tax breaks have relied on analysis of the TCJA to suggest he would offer the richest Americans new levies.

Kevin Brady, a former representative and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and now a senior consultant at Akin, recently told Newsweek that Trump would want to “preserve the successful 2017 tax reforms, all of it.”

Trump’s ‘Extreme Abortion Bans’

Harris also said her presidency would stop Trump’s “extreme abortion bans.” This remark is particularly worth examining.

While Trump has taken credit for the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which led to new state-by-state policies on abortion care, his position on abortion has been floaty, indicating that he would leave decision-making on abortions to state legislators.

Also, his campaign’s policy agenda makes only one mention of abortion.

“We proudly stand for families and Life,” the platform reads. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights.”

It continues, “After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”

The Republican convention’s platform committee quickly and overwhelmingly adopted the policy platform during a meeting in Milwaukee earlier this month. However, the tempered language led to criticism from conservatives and some party members.