On August 11, 2020, right after former Vice President Joe Biden, who is now the Democratic nominee for the November 2020 Presidential Election, announced that he picked Sen. Kamala Harris as his Vice President, reports about President Donald Trump donating to her campaign years ago started circulating.
Shortly after Biden named Harris as his pick for Vice President, the reelection campaign of President Trump denounced her as "phony Kamala" claiming that she was willing to "abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat party."
Trump donating to Harris
The Trump campaign sent emails to Trump supports and labeled Harris a "corrupt former California Attorney General." A former advisor to former President Bill Clinton, Paul Begala, pointed out on Twitter the irony in the allegation, and claimed that "Trump donated to Kamala Harris when she was the attorney general."
NBC News correspondent Tom Winter then backed up Paul Begala's claim by tweeting that Trump has twice donated to Harris' election campaign, first in 2011 and second in 2013, and the total amount was $6,000. Winter also stated that Trump's daughter and advisor, Ivanka Trump, had donated to Harris herself in 2014 for $2,000.
The truth
The claims of Begala and Winter are true. There are records available through the campaign finance database on the website of the California Secretary of State and it showed that Trump made two contributions to Harris' 2014 campaign for reelection as California attorney general.
Trump donated $5,000 on September 26, 2011 and he donated $1,000 on February 20, 2013. Harris first took office in January 2011, which means Trump contributed to her reelection when she had already been in office for eight months, and when she had been in office for two years in 2013.
In March 2019, a spokesperson for Harris' presidential primary campaign told The Sacramento Bee that she donated the $6,000 Trump had contributed to a non-profit that advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans. The Sacramento Bee added that Harris' donation of the money took place in 2015.
Snopes contacted the spokespeople for both Biden and Harris and requested for further details about the claim, including the name of the charity and the exact date on which Harris donated the $6,000 that was initially donated by Trump. However, Snopes did not receive a response.
The campaign finance database also showed that Trump made other donations to several campaigns in California, to both Democrats and Republicans.
Trump donated $2,500 to Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who was not elected in 2010 but was elected to the gubernatorial office in 2019. He gave $3,500 to Jerry Brown, a Democrat who won in 2006 as California's attorney general. He gave $12,000 to committees supportive of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and he also gave $25,000 to California's Republican party in 2005.
The database-backed up Winter's claim that Ivanka Trump donated $2,000 to Harris' successful campaign back in 2014 and she was reelected as California's attorney general. Ivanka Trump gave $500 to Newsom back in 2010.
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