Trump Accuses Kamala Harris of Illegally Buying Celebrity Endorsements: ‘They Should Be Prosecuted!’
President Donald Trump is calling for a full investigation into what he claims was an illegal pay-for-play scheme during Kamala Harris’s failed 2024 presidential campaign, accusing her of funneling millions of dollars to high-profile celebrities in exchange for political endorsements.
In a fiery Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump alleged that Harris’s campaign paid superstar singer Beyoncé a staggering $11 million to appear onstage at a campaign event — only to be booed off by an unimpressed audience. He also claimed that TV mogul Oprah Winfrey received $3 million, and MSNBC host Al Sharpton received $600,000, all under the guise of vague “expenses.”
“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,” Trump wrote. “Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted!”
According to Trump, the reported payments were never about production costs or legitimate campaign services, but rather direct compensation for public endorsements aimed at bolstering Harris’s credibility and popularity among voters. “She never sang, not one note,” Trump said of Beyoncé’s appearance. “And [she] left the stage to a booing and angry audience!”
The president compared the alleged pay-for-endorsement tactic to election interference and warned of a dangerous precedent if such schemes are allowed to stand. “Can you imagine what would happen if politicians started paying for people to endorse them?” he wrote. “All hell would break out!”
While official campaign finance records show that payments were made from Democratic entities to various celebrity-affiliated production companies during the 2024 cycle, representatives for Winfrey and Beyoncé have pushed back on Trump’s allegations.
“I did not take any personal fee,” Winfrey said in a May statement. “However, the people who worked on that production needed to be paid and were. End of story.”
Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, called the accusations “a lie,” insisting that her daughter was not paid to endorse Harris or any other political candidate.
Still, Trump’s legal team is reportedly reviewing financial disclosures, vendor contracts, and payment routing through shell entities that may have been used to disguise illegal activity. Several top House Republicans are also said to be considering launching a formal probe into Harris’s campaign expenditures.
Trump’s public attack comes amid growing scrutiny of high-dollar celebrity involvement in Democrat campaigns, particularly when endorsements are paired with lavish event appearances and murky financial arrangements. With new Republican leadership at the Federal Election Commission and Attorney General Pam Bondi pledging to “hold the politically connected accountable,” legal action may be on the horizon.
“If Kamala Harris or anyone on her team broke the law by paying for endorsements and hiding the payments, they need to face consequences just like anyone else,” one senior White House official told reporters on background. “This goes to the heart of election integrity.”
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 26, 2025
As Trump continues to expose what he sees as institutional corruption in the Democratic Party, the question now turns to whether prosecutors will act — or whether the celebrity elite will once again be shielded from accountability.