In case you missed it, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) has found herself in hot water after getting caught telling a fib about her history with ExxonMobil.

To recap, during this week’s CNN presidential democratic debate, Erin Burnett, a CNN moderator, asked Harris if she would sue ExxonMobil over the #ExxonKnew controversy.

Harris replied quite confidently: “I have sued Exxon Mobil”

CNN and The New York Times, among others, have pointed out: Harris, in fact, did not sue ExxonMobil. Nor, for that matter, did her successor, probably because the entire #ExxonKnew story has been completely debunked and abandoned by nearly all of the state attorneys general that looked into it.

Daniel Dale, a fact-checker from CNN, jumped on her false statement Thursday morning:

Ian Sams, the national press secretary for Senator Harris, bristled at negative attention that was quickly outshining the rest of her performance and published a defensive tweet in response:

 

In The Washington Free Beacon’s reporting, the outlet reached out to the California Attorney General’s Office for comment on the issue, and received a resounding response:

“A department spokesman confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that the attorney general’s office had not sued the company.”

Even InsideClimate News, the Rockefeller-funded outlet that helped birth the #ExxonKnew controversy, searched far and wide for any confirmed evidence that Sen. Harris actively pursued an investigation of the company in any capacity, for any reason:

“InsideClimate News could find no evidence that Harris had ever filed a lawsuit against Exxon, including while she was district attorney of San Francisco between 2004 and 2011.

“Sher Edling, a San Francisco-based law firm spearheading civil litigation against Exxon on behalf of communities based on the company’s past knowledge of climate risks, said it can’t find any record of litigation by Harris involving Exxon. Columbia University’s database of climate change litigation has no record of a suit.” (emphasis added)

Several outlets reported that the Harris campaign sent them a link to a 2016 Los Angeles Times article that claimed her office was investigating ExxonMobil after coming under substantial pressure from activists. But the California Attorney General’s office has never confirmed that the investigation was initiated, and the Los Angeles Times’ tip came from a single anonymous source “close to the investigation,” which likely means it came from someone not connected with the attorney general’s office. That’s a pretty weak tip to hang your hat on.

InsideClimate News noted that the tip was unconfirmed, “nor is there any indication Harris undertook an active investigation by issuing subpoenas, as did the attorneys general of New York, Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” Still, some outlets, like TIME, didn’t bother to fact check the presidential candidate.

What’s the lesson learned here? While it may be good politics in some circles to attack energy producers, it’s never a good idea to tell a fib on national television, especially one that’s easily refuted.