The claim: Image shows Kamala Harris' Communist Party membership card
By Hannah Hudnall USA TODAY
An Aug. 27 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a document with Russian writing and a picture of a young Vice President Kamala Harris.
“On Aug. 19, the official Telegram channel of the State Archives of the Russian Federation – GARF – published the CPSU party card of U.S. presidential candidate Camille (sic) Harris, which she received during her first visit to the USSR in 1984,” reads text in the post.
The text claims Harris joined the U.S. Communist Party at 16, traveled to the Russian cities of Moscow and Voronezh several times in the 1980s and paid dues to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a member until 1991.
The post’s caption says, “My question is, CAN A FORMER MEMBER OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE FORMER USSR BE A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE USA?” in Spanish, according to Google Translate.
The post was shared more than 300 times in three days. Other versions of the claim were shared on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.
Our rating: Altered
The image was digitally fabricated using an online Communist Party card generator. There’s no evidence Harris has ever been a Communist Party member.
Harris Communist Party card not authentic
Former President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly labeled Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz communists, with Trump sharing an altered image that made it appear as if Harris spoke at a communist event days before the Democratic National Convention.
Like the image shared by Trump, the supposed picture of Harris' Communist Party membership card is not legitimate.
The image's format matches a card-generating template available on the Russian website Stalinanavas.net. The identification number, stamp placement and writing on the right page of the template are identical to the card shown in the post.
Beneath the title "Party card of a member of the CPSU," the generator allows you to upload a photo and enter your full name and birth year.
Several similar cards with other people's photos can be found on the website with the same format and much of the same text
The photo of Harris was not taken in 1984, as the post claims. It was taken when Harris was a graduating senior at Howard University two years later, according to The New York Times. There is also no such Aug. 19 post showing Harris' supposed membership card on the Telegram account of the State Archives of the Russian Federation.
There are likewise no credible reports of Harris being a member of the U.S. or Soviet Union's Communist Party.
The user who shared the post for comment didn't provide any evidence to back up the claim when contacted by USA TODAY.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2...oogle_vignette
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------