Where do I begin?
Multiple other news organizations have also covered this issue reporting similar claims such as Newsweek, The Telegraph, and AOL, all visible from a simple keyword search, but CNN stands to be primarily the major US relevant organization. However, the originating article for all others was published by The Washington Free Beacon, who also sourced a file to Harris' original testimony on their website.
Upon reaching the deepest part of the rabbit hole, I was able to find the original prepared statements of Kamala D. Harris, who was the District Attorney for the City of San Francisco at the time, and Paul Logli, who was an elected state's attorney for Winnebago County, Illinois, and the individual who CNN claims Harris lifted language from in the topic article.
In both prepared statements, multiple sections of text are shared between Harris' and Logli's words verbatim, including the introductory paragraphs where they thank Chairman Scott and Senator Durbin respectively, of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Judiciary Committees, respectively -- and an entire section of testimony which both individuals' statements had titled "Survey of the Nation's Prosecutors Regarding Student Loan Debit" (which can be found on page 85 of the file that includes Harris' statement, and page 4 in the file of Logli's testimony).
This language lifting continues onwards to several paragraphs including ones detailing a memo from an ADA to a deputy DA in Pennslyvania to the assertion of how critical it was for both judiciary committees then to support John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act.
HOWEVER, while there is an overwhelming exhibition of evidence of text similarities in both statements, it is also of note that at the time of each statement, Kamala D. Harris served as a member of the Board of Directors for the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), and Paul Logli had also subsequently commented to The Washington Beacon that he had utilized the support of the NDAA to draft his statement, and that he believes "[Harris] also relied on NDAA staff support for her opening statement," holding Harris to no fault.
In addition to the NDAA's involvement in both Harris' and Logli's written testimonies, they were also heavily involved in the support and drafting of many other submitted letters to either Judiciary Committee, including their own letters of support signed by a variety of NDAA members. (Found in the House of Representatives committee hearing minutes.)
Based on all factors and evidence considered, I can only conclude that while the action of language lifting for Harris' statement from Logli's did occur in 2007, I cannot fully conclude that Kamala D. Harris herself orchestrated this intentionally as the main title claims, or if this was the result of a workload reduction by part of the NDAA, a resource both individuals shared.
A copy of documents covering the minutes of the House Judiciary Committee hearing, which includes the prepared testimony of Kamala D. Harris
A copy of the prepared testimony of Paul A. Logli to the Senate Judiciary Committee
The original Washington Beacon article that CNN based their review on
Factchecker note: I believe it is also important to realize the political connotations that this CNN article poses by bringing up an issue of "plagiarism" in the manner of political text where shared language is common. Despite however true or false the events may be, the events in question are 17 years old. Factchecking is a critical tool to help combat misinformation, and so is media literacy.
