MSNBC anchor and progressive activist Rev. Al Sharpton reportedly received $500,000 from the Kamala Harris campaign before praising the former presidential candidate in an interview he hosted. According to reports, Shaprton received two lump sum payments of $250,000 to his charity, one in September and the other in October.
The Daily Mail reported on the donations disclosed in campaign finance statements following Vice President Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump. Sharpton was a major proponent of Harris leading up to the election while hosting a friendly interview with her. “Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States, he has not earned the right. And that’s why he’s going to lose,” Harris told Sharpton in the interview that aired in late October.
During the interview, in which the substantial contribution from the Harris campaign was not disclosed, Sharpton and the vice president discussed the struggling support among Black men. Roughy 1 in 5 Black men voted for President-elect Trump, marking a historical shift in Republican support among the voting bloc. “It’s just not panning out in reality in terms of when I go to, last night, Atlanta, and have 10,000 people at a rally,” Harris said.
Despite having known Trump for years, Sharpton attacked the former president as a “con man” in 2019. “I have known Al for 25 years. Went to fights with him & Don King, always got along well. He loved Trump!” Trump said about the insult from Sharpton on social media. “He would ask me for favors often. Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing.”
Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly recently called out the major conflict of interest in the donation and subsequent interview between Sharpton and Harris, labeling it an ethics violation. “I’m dying from the conflict of interest. I’m dead… The bias is coming out of the ears. This is so irresponsible, unethical, and not allowed,” she said. “It is so egregious… You cannot make a donation to an anchor’s charity on the side of $500,000 as a presidential candidate, then go sit with the anchor and he didn’t disclose it… This is not a news organization, but they continue to masquerade as one,” Kelly added.
The American Tribune reported on other bad reports for MSNBC and legacy media personalities, who have seen a ratings collapse following the election. “This is out just a little while ago, the ratings for MSNBC,” conservative commentator Sean Spicer said on a recent forum. “Morning Joe down 39.6, Andrea Mitchell down 39.7, Ari Melber down 49.6, Joy Reid down 54.6, all in the last week. Lawrence O’Donnell down 60.6, Stephanie Ruhle, the big winner, down 67 percent in ratings.” Spicer concluded from the data, “They lost the trust of the American people.”
He continued, “I mean, Chris Wallace, this morning announced that he’s leaving CNN to go to a platform. The thing is, you know, my view, I get, I’ve been asked, probably by about 10 to 12 reporters in the last 48 to 72 hours, how did we miss this again?” Spicer pointed out, “And I said we didn’t. You did. And I mean, and I say this respectfully, but I was just like, look, here are the guests that we’ve had on.”
Watch the panel below:
Featured image credit: Chad Davis from Minneapolis, United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al_Sharpton_(51199933292).jpg
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