The president went on a rant Saturday, claiming — without evidence — Harris’ campaign paid Beyoncé and others millions of dollars for their support.
President Donald Trump again accused former Vice President Kamala Harris of paying celebrities to endorse her during the presidential race and said they all should be prosecuted.
The claim, for which he offered no evidence, previously has been denied by the celebrities and comes amid a flurry of accusations the president has made in the past few weeks as he faces scrutiny over his ties to the late sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’m looking at the large amount of money owed by the Democrats, after the Presidential Election, and the fact that they admit to paying, probably illegally, Eleven Million Dollars to singer Beyoncé for an ENDORSEMENT (she never sang, not one note, and left the stage to a booing and angry audience!), Three Million Dollars for ‘expenses,’ to Oprah, Six Hundred Thousand Dollars to very low rated TV ‘anchor,’ Al Sharpton (a total lightweight!), and others to be named for doing, absolutely NOTHING!” Trump wrote Saturday night on Truth Social.
He continued: “These ridiculous fees were incorrectly stated in the books and records. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PAY FOR AN ENDORSEMENT. IT IS TOTALLY ILLEGAL TO DO SO. Can you imagine what would happen if politicians started paying for people to endorse them. All hell would break out! Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
It’s unclear how Trump got his numbers, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Harris campaign previously denied paying for endorsements. Even if she had, the Federal Election Commission has no rules against candidates paying for endorsements as long as they disclose them, campaign law experts told ABC News in May. The FEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the newest allegations from Trump.
In 2024, Harris’ campaign paid Beyoncé’s production company $165,000 for her October appearance at a Houston rally, where Beyoncé did not sing but instead gave a speech in support of Harris. Harris’ campaign also paid $1 million to Oprah Winfrey’s production company for a livestream event Winfrey helped produce in Michigan.
Winfrey told paparazzi that she was “paid nothing, ever” for the event.
“I did not take any personal fee,” she later wrote in an Instagram comment. “However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”
Adrienne Elrod, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told Deadline in November that the campaign is required to pay “for any ancillary costs” associated with these events.
Harris’ campaign also sent $500,000 to Sharpton’s National Action Network before Sharpton interviewed Harris on MSNBC.
Harris’ team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s latest accusations.
