Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign continues soliciting donations weeks after her loss to President-elect Donald Trump, amid reports of massive campaign debt and controversial spending.
“With Trump nominating MAGA loyalists left and right, there is nothing more important than making sure we can fight back and hold him accountable,” a recent email from Harris headquarters read, despite Trump’s decisive victory with 312 electoral votes to Harris’ 226.
The grift never stops, it seems.
The campaign, which raised — and quickly hemorrhaged through — almost $1.5 billion during Harris’s three-month run currently faces tens of million in debt, according to Politico.
Recent financial scrutiny revealed significant spending on celebrities, including $2 million to Oprah Winfrey’s production company and $500,000 to Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.
The “Harris Fight Fund” emails tell donors they need to send more money to Harris — and says not doing so emboldens Trump.
The fundraising email also hint that Harris’ campaign will fund election recounts. However, fine print reveals almost all donations flow directly to the DNC and state-level Democratic affiliates rather than recount efforts.
“I understand that the Harris campaign is in a very difficult position with the debt that they have, and so sometimes you just have to make practical decisions,” said Mike Nellis, founder of Democratic digital firm Authentic. “But yeah, I think that stuff like that erodes trust.”
Democratic strategist Jon Reinish was far more critical.
“Getting fundraising requests after any candidate has lost, when they admit that they are still millions of dollars in debt, having blown through over a billion dollars… is especially galling,” Reinish said.
Trump mocked the fundraising efforts on social media, sarcastically offering to help “for the sake of desperately needed UNITY,” while highlighting his campaign’s efficient use of “earned media.”
A Harris campaign official defended the continued fundraising and told Politico the emails maintain previous donation limits and help fund the campaign’s wind-down operations, including staff retention for closure procedures.
The fundraising push comes after Harris recently told supporters in a Democratic Party video, “Don’t you ever let anyone take your power from you. You have the same power that you did before Nov. 5.”