Months-old interview comments by a supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris are being used by a pro-Trump political action committee, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Kimberly Burrell had spoken with MSNBC in July along with others who had lost a family member to gun violence. In 2009, Burrell’s 18-year-old son was fatally shot.
After the discussion turned to inflation, a tearful Burrell said, “Imagine the mother making minimum wage trying to feed children. They’re killing us without killing us.”
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Yet some of those same comments are featured in an ad by the pro-Trump Restoration PAC that criticizes the Biden administration’s economic policies.
After Burrell says,“They’re killing us without killing us,” Harris is shown saying positively, “That is called Bidenomics.” The ad then ends with the VP laughing.
Burrell told the Inquirer that she was “distraught” upon hearing how her interview was being used.
“They can just steal your image and comments and twist it the way they want it to be twisted,” she said. “It’s just really sick.”
When the Inquirer reached out to the PAC for comment, a spokesperson told the column’s author, Helen Ubiñas, that she had “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“Your X feed indicates you are a hard-partisan with a strong case of Trump Derangement Syndrome — therefore you don’t need my help in cobbling together your biased column,” Dan Curry said. “Have a blessed day.”
The PAC’s use of Burrell’s comments is legal, according to one law professor Ubiñas spoke to, since such committees have a lot of latitude under the fair use doctrine. But, they added, Burrell could mount a legal challenge on the basis that the ad misrepresents her views.
Burrell has contacted that PAC and the Trump campaign, according to the Inquirer. She has also been communicating with a lawyer and is drafting a cease and desist letter.
