Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has drawn fresh controversy by branding Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht a “fentanyl dealer” in her newly released memoir “107 Days,” which details her failed 2024 presidential campaign. The book, published this week, includes an excerpt where Harris writes: “The Justice Department is going after Trump’s enemies list… while Trump supporters have been pardoned and released: the January 6 rioters, the fentanyl dealer Ross Ulbricht, numerous tax cheats.”
Facts vs. Accusation
Ulbricht, who was sentenced to double life plus 40 years in 2015, served nearly 12 years before being pardoned by President Donald Trump on January 21, 2025. Responding to Harris’s claim, Ulbricht took to X: “You called me ‘the fentanyl dealer’ in your new book and attacked President Trump for freeing me after more than ELEVEN years in prison. Yet, I wasn’t prosecuted for dealing drugs myself and fentanyl wasn’t part of my charges.”
Court documents confirm that while Silk Road facilitated over $200 million in drug transactions across 13,000 listings from 2011 to 2013, fentanyl was never specifically mentioned in Ulbricht’s indictment. The records note “opioids” were available on the marketplace, a class that includes fentanyl. Whether Harris is stretching the truth or Ulbricht maintains plausible deniability remains debatable, but the Silk Road creator insists it’s the former: “The truth has never mattered to you. Don’t be a sore loser, Kamala.”
Political Theater Continues
By lumping Ulbricht with January 6 defendants, Harris aims to highlight what she sees as Trump’s selective justice. Ulbricht, in turn, uses the moment to reinforce his narrative as a political scapegoat. The spat underscores the deep partisan divisions over criminal justice and presidential pardons in the United States.