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FACT BRIEF

During a campaign debate, did Kamala Harris say to Joe Biden, 'You will do whatever the Chinese tell you! They gave your son over a billion dollars'?

By Sarah Thompson
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NO

Kamala Harris never said this to Joe Biden during a debate, contrary to a social media post's claim.

An image with the claim is from the second night of the first Democratic debate, on June 27, 2019, in Miami. During that debate Harris confronted Biden on the subject of race and busing, but there was no exchange about China or Biden's son.

There were a total of 11 Democratic presidential debates between June 2019 and March 2020. Harris took part in the first five. Lead Stories reviewed the transcripts of each of those five debates and did not find any statements by Harris that match the claim.

Foxnews.com published an article on August 13, 2020, listing five times Harris was critical of Biden on the debate stage, none mentioning China or Biden's son.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Rev Transcript from Night 2 of the First 2019 June Democratic Debates
NBC News Full transcript: 2019 Democratic debate Night One, sortable by topic
NBC News Democratic debate transcript: July 31, 2019
Rev October Democratic Debate Transcript: 4th Debate in Ohio
NBC News Read: Democratic debate transcript, November 20, 2019
Fox News All the times Kamala Harris criticized Joe Biden during the Democratic primary
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.