Is there a public record of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris saying, "I promise to do everything I could have done but didn't do," as a post on Instagram claimed? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no official statement, video, audio or otherwise credible source to confirm that the vice president said that. The quote appears to have started circulating on social media in September 2024 with no source to confirm the quote was genuine.
A version of the claim originated in a post on Instagram on October 6, 2024, (archived here). It included an image of Harris with a text overlay that read:
I promise to do everything I could have done but didnt do because if I did it I wouldnt have to promise to do it, even though I could do it now, but don't because I dont know what to do otherwise I would have done it.
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken Thu Oct 17 10:45:55 2024 UTC)
The supposed quote is overlaid on a photo of Harris, implying that the statement is her direct quote. But the post cites no source for the purported quote, nor does it give a location or date when the quote supposedly was said.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on the Google News archive of thousands of reliable information sites, visible here and archived here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim.
We also searched key phrases from the statement on Google such as, "I promise to do everything I could have done" (archived here)," I wouldn't have to promise to do it" (archived here), "Even though I could do it now" (archived here)" and "because I didn't know what to do otherwise" (archived here). The results yielded dozens of copies of the claim across social media platforms. However, no results supported the quote's authenticity. The results did return other fact checks published by reputable agencies that also debunked the claim.
The quote started circulating on social media in September 2024, also without a source to confirm its authenticity. A reverse image search (archived here) shows that the post has been online since at least September 6, 2024, (archived here) and was later shared to the humor-based meme website iFunny on September 7, 2024 (archived here).
An X profile that parodies Harris also posted the meme on September 13, 2024 (archived here). American actor Kevin Sorbo shared it on September 15, 2024 (archived here).
None of those posts gave any indication where or when the purported quote was said.
Factbase, a publicly available database on rollcall.com that documents political statements, speeches and interviews, did not have a record of the supposed quote (archived here).
An advanced search of Harris' verified X (archived here) and Facebook profiles yielded no results.
Other fact check agencies have also reviewed this claim, including Check Your Fact and Snopes.
Other Lead Stories articles on claims related to Kamala Harris are here.
