A post shared on X by the Trump War Room claims Vice President Kamala Harris supports defunding the police. 

Weak. Failed. Dangerously liberal. pic.twitter.com/3m5hrHgV8p

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 30, 2024

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has raised over $130 million in July, surpassing his just under $112 million in fundraising for June, according to Politico. Harris’ campaign raised a record-breaking $317 million in July alone, eclipsing the former president’s fundraising numbers, as her campaign now has more cash on hand, The Associated Press reported.

An X post, uploaded by Trump War Room, claims Harris supports calls for police departments to be defunded. “Kamala supports defunding the police,” the post’s text reads, showing an image of Harris laughing into a microphone. “Weak. Failed. Dangerously liberal,” the caption reads.

Harris’ stance has varied throughout the years. Insha Rahman, director of advocacy group Vera Action, told Check Your Fact via email that Harris does not wish to defund the police.

“Claiming that Kamala Harris wants to defund the police is a tired and ineffective scare tactic to exploit fear instead of having an honest debate about solutions that work to prevent crime, respond to crisis, and stop violence,” Rahman said. “When it comes to policing, Harris has supported law enforcement to do the difficult jobs they are tasked to do, which is to serve and protect communities, and, as recently as her 2020 presidential campaign platform, proposed increased funding for officer safety and wellness and to diversify police departments to reflect the needs of the communities they serve.”

There is evidence, however, to suggest that Harris did advocate for less funding to be given to police departments during her 2020 campaign. In text at the bottom of the image, The Trump War Room cites a June 2020 article from online news site SFGate. The article being referred to has the headline, “Kamala Harris battles Meghan McCain over framing of ‘Defund the Police’ debate on The View.”

The article describes Harris being questioned on the topic by “The View” co-host Meghan McCain about the movement. Harris responded by saying that she wants to increase resources for issues such as “mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness” so that there is less need for a police response to the scenarios listed above “because we are smarter.”

She was asked again if she supports defunding the police, to which she replied, “How are you defining ‘defund the police?'” Harris then stated “we need to reimagine how we are achieving public safety in America.” The then-vice presidential candidate pointed to cities “where one-third of their entire budget is going to policing,” instead of other resources. Harris did not specifically call for police departments to be defunded.

Harris reiterated some of these claims in a 2020 radio interview with New York station Hot 97, according to Fox News. Harris said in part, “For too long the status quo thinking has been, ‘you get more safety by putting more cops on the street,’ that’s wrong,” pointing to “upper middle-class suburban neighborhoods” and listing off their access to certain services. (RELATED: No, Kamala Harris Did Not Publish A Tweet Praising The 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony)

Rahman also mentioned Harris calling for increased funding for mental health and crisis responders, citing a 2022 Vera Institute study that found behavioral health crises typically constitute 19 percent of all calls for police service.

“Harris has also demonstrated she understands what millions of Americans also believe—that we spend $115 billion on police already each year and ask them to do too much, from investigating serious cases to responding to mental health calls and wellness checks,” Rahman said.

Harris did not always hold these beliefs, and instead used to advocate for more police in the street. In her 2009 book, Smart on Crime, she wrote, “If we take a show of hands of those who would like to see more police officers on the street, mine would shoot up,” according to Daily Mail.

In 2004, while Harris was a district attorney, 29-year-old San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza was shot and killed by 21-year-old David Hill when Espinoza confronted him while walking on the street, appearing to conceal a weapon, according to CNN. Three days after the incident, Harris held a press conference, stating “In San Francisco, it is the will, I believe, of a majority of people that the most severe crimes be met with the most severe consequences,” but ultimately chose to seek a life sentence without parole over the death penalty, the outlet reported.

Check Your Fact has reached out to spokespeople for Harris and Trump.