President Donald Trump donated to Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris twice while she was a candidate for California attorney general, according to public records reviewed by NBC News.
The records show that Trump donated a total of $6,000 to Harris: $5,000 in 2011 and $1,000 in 2013. Both donations were made while he was a private citizen.
-Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 11, 2020
The Washington Examiner reported last year that according to an affidavit signed by Trump, he and his daughter, Ivanka, made the $5,000 donation at the request of then New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman.
"Mr. Schneiderman's former transition committee leader asked my daughter Ivanka if she would arrange for me to make a contribution to a fundraising event sponsored by Mr. Schneiderman for newly elected California Attorney General Kamala Harris," Trump wrote in the affidavit. "In response, I made a $5,000 contribution to Ms. Harris' campaign - the highest level of sponsorship listed in the invitation - and Ivanka attended the event together with some of Trump Org.'s other top executives."
Harris' spokeswoman told the Sacramento Bee that she donated the money Trump gave her campaign to a nonprofit group that helps Central Americans in 2015.
Trump's history of donating to Harris - and other Democratic candidates - resurfaced on Tuesday after Joe Biden, the former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, tapped Harris to be his running mate.
Biden's campaign announced the decision in a text message and email to supporters. "Joe Biden here," the text said. "Big news: I've chosen Kamala Harris as my running mate. Together, with you, we're going to beat Trump."
President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign also released a statement on Harris' selection as Biden's running mate.
"Not long ago, Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never received," the statement said. "Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party."