According to reports by the Washington Free Beacon, Al Sharpton's nonprofit organization, the National Action Network received a whopping $500,000 worth of donations from Kamala Harris's presidential campaign just days before her interview with Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s Politics Nation.
The timing of these donations and the subsequent interview has puzzled people across the internet who are now questioning the reason for the donation especially since neither Sharpton nor MSNBC disclosed the contributions to viewers.
An X user posted a video of the interview between Al Sharpton and Harris and questioned the neutrality of the interview given the transactions had taken place just days before it. They wrote:
"So... was the Harris campaign just one big money laundering scheme? According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Harris campaign sent one $250k payment on September 5 and then another $250k payment on October 1. On October 3, Sharpton shared a video of Harris wishing him a happy birthday.
About two weeks later on October 20, Sharpton had an interview with Kamala Harris where he praised her for her extraordinary historic campaign. He also blasted Trump for being hostile and erratic."
Other people also chimed in with similar reactions:
"The whole thing was a grift," one user wrote.
"Imagine being such a bad candidate, so void of ideas, you have to pay your closest allies to "interview" you," expressed another X user.
"So, she had to pay EVERYONE to talk to her and say nice things about her.😂😂😂😂," chuckled another X user.
In the same comment section, another user wrote:
"Seems this was one big money laundering operation between Harris’s $1.2B campaign and these celebrities and pundits who got a piece of that too. She raised $1.2B and ended up losing with $20M debt— and this is who Democrats wanted running the country. Let that sink in."
How did the interview between Al Sharpton and Kamala Harris go?
Vice President Kamala Harris, 60, sat down for an MSNBC interview with Al Sharpton, 70, on Oct. 20, shortly after her campaign donated to his National Action Network. During the interview on Sharpton’s PoliticsNation, he praised Harris, even comparing her to Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to run for president.
Throughout the interview, Al Sharpton defended Harris, downplaying criticism that she was 'too progressive.'
Harris’s campaign has faced challenges with minority voters, particularly men, as polls indicated slipping support among Black and Latino men. During the Nov. 5 election, Harris’s campaign heavily outspent Trump’s, but still lost in all battleground states.
Was Al Sharpton's the only organization Harris's campaign donated to?
According to OpenSecrets, campaign finance records show that by Oct. 16, the Harris-Walz campaign had raised nearly $1 billion and spent $880 million. With outside spending included, Harris had over $1.6 billion supporting her campaign, while Trump’s total was closer to $1 billion.
Besides contributing $500,000 to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the Harris campaign allocated $2 million to the National Urban League, $150,000 to the Black Economic Alliance, and $120,000 to Casa in Action, along with donations to other minority advocacy groups, according to the NewYorkPost.
According to the Washington Examiner, over $15 million from Harris's campaign went to 'event production,' including $1 million paid to Oprah Winfrey's production house Harpo Productions for a live-streamed event with Harris called 'Unite for America.'
When confronted with questions regarding the donation, in a video, Oprah is seen denying the allegations.
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“Oprah Winfrey was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo.”
Noted a spokesperson from the Harpo Productions team.
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