Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SimpleAttachments.comSimpleAttachments.com

Politics

Oprah town hall cost Harris campaign far more than initially claimed: report

A new report revealed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign paid more than double what was previously reported for the Oprah Winfrey town hall event.

FEC filings, first reported by the Washington Examiner, show the Harris campaign made two $500,000 payments to Winfrey’s Harpo Productions on Oct. 15, a month after Winfrey’s town hall with Harris and weeks before the pair appeared at a Harris Philadelphia rally. Now, two sources have told The New York Times the full price of the event with Winfrey was closer to $2.5 million.

Harris’ campaign spent $1.5 billion, or $100 million per week during her 15-week presidential run, according to the Times. Democrat donors say they are still being bombarded with requests, and the Democratic Party is reportedly $20 million in debt from the failed campaign. 

Some of the reported spending included nearly $9,000 in ice cream from high-end shops like Sweet Lucy’s Ice Cream and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

Harris’ campaign reportedly used almost $15,000 on food delivery services such as Uber Eats and DoorDash from July through the end of the race in early November, the Times reported.

During a two-week period in October, Harris’ campaign reportedly spent $2.6 million on travel aboard private jets. 

The campaign also spent $900,000 to reserve ad space on Las Vegas’ Sphere in the final week of the election, although she still lost Nevada by three points.

The bulk of the extravagant spending reportedly went to celebrity appearances and performances and influencer partnerships meant to boost campaign events. 

Winfrey, a billionaire, insisted she was ‘paid nothing’ when confronted by TMZ.

A Harpo Productions spokesperson acknowledged to Variety that the company took money from the campaign but claimed it was for ‘production costs.’

‘Oprah Winfrey was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo,’ the spokesperson said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

You May Also Like

Editor's Pick

Marc Joffe In recent posts, I have looked at costly light rail projects in Austin and Minneapolis whose sponsors are seeking federal funding. Not...

Tech News

Image: Tesla Robin Zeng, the founder of the world’s largest EV battery company, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s big bet on 4680 cylindrical cell...

Editor's Pick

Vanessa Brown Calder President-elect Donald Trump has signaled an appetite for change with his new Department of Government Efficiency and various cabinet picks. While...

Editor's Pick

Joshua Shifrinson Should seeking to prioritize threats to US national security disqualify officials from leading policy positions? The campaign underway to prevent former Assistant Secretary...