When President Biden suddenly ended his reelection campaign over the weekend and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, numerous Democrats were quick to point out that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, had previously supported Harris.
Tweets circulated with an image of a check from 2011 showing that Trump had donated $5,000 to the campaign of then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris. One Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, of Florida, posted the picture of the check with the caption: “Wise investment.”
Campaign finance records show Donald Trump donated twice to reelect Kamala Harris as the attorney general of California. Records show Trump made a $5,000 donation in 2011, months after she was first sworn in, and another $1,000 donation in 2013, one year before she was reelected for a second term.
The Harris campaign told CBS News that she later donated those funds to a nonprofit group advocating for civil rights and human rights for Central Americans, which was first reported by the Sacramento Bee. The paper noted that her donation came in 2015, as she was launching her campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Records also show that Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, made a $2,000 donation to Harris’ campaign for attorney general in 2014.
Harris served two terms as California’s attorney general before being elected to the Senate.
News of Trump’s donations initially surfaced during the 2020 presidential campaign, when he was running against the Biden-Harris ticket.
Before entering politics, Trump, then a real estate developer, donated to various politicians on both sides of the aisle. Records show he gave money to Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and then-Senators Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, as well as Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
According to Ballotpedia, Trump made $1,845,290 in political donations between 1989 and 2015. A majority of that was destined for Republicans, although before 2011, Trump donated more money to Democrats.
Back in 2016, while campaigning in Iowa, Trump defended his past history of political donations, saying that as a businessman, “I contribute to everybody. I’ve given to Democrats. I’ve given it to everybody, because that’s my job.”
Trump 2024 campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told CBS News, “President Trump was a global businessman and knew how to play the game and win the game with corrupt politicians like Kamala Harris.”