Kamala Harris’ truncated run for president managed to raise over $1 billion. Not only was that not enough to beat Donald Trump at the ballot box, but it was reportedly not even enough to keep the Harris-Walz campaign out of the red.
In the wake of reports that the Democratic ticket ended up $20 million in debt, sources close to the campaign are leaking details about how that happened. Chief among the allegations: Oprah Winfrey’s production company was paid $1 million to put together the star-studded Michigan town hall she hosted for Harris in September.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn ran through some of the shocking numbers and whether or what Democrats should take away from the failure.
$1 Million for Harpo
Back in September, Winfrey hosted a “Unite for America Rally” with Harris in the critical battleground state of Michigan that she ended up losing to Trump. The 90-minute event included 400 people in a live studio audience, plus a host of celebrities joining via Zoom to ask the vice president questions.
Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bryan Cranston, Ben Stiller, and Chris Rock were among the famous names Winfrey ran through as she welcomed viewers to the livestream.
The Washington Free Beacon discovered the Harris-Walz campaign paid Winfrey’s Harpo Productions $1 million on October 15 spread out over two payments of $500,000. Some outlets initially suggested Winfrey was personally paid the million – something she pushed back on when confronted by TMZ. The former talk show host maintained she was “paid nothing” for her appearances, which also included a stop at Harris’ final rally in Philadelphia on November 4.
A Harpo spokesperson, meanwhile, acknowledged that the company was paid by the Harris team but said it was for “production costs” and Winfrey “was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo.”
‘Oprah Is Fake News’
Megyn said Winfrey was strategic in her denial. “She didn’t mention that her company got a million dollars. You omitted that, Oprah,” she noted. “It was like threading the needle.”
It is but the latest example, Megyn added, of why Winfrey is not a serious journalist. “This is yet another piece of evidence that Oprah Winfrey is fake news. News people do not require the campaign to pay us so we can interview them,” she said. “I don’t get it. Why would Oprah have used her production company, her set? Maybe that is what it costs to do a photo shoot or a sit down or a town hall with Oprah Winfrey.”
As Megyn explained, she hosted her own town hall of sorts this election cycle when she interviewed some of the Minnesota National Guard veterans who were accusing Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, of stolen valor for misrepresenting his service.
“Do you think I charged them to set it up? No, I didn’t. The Megyn Kelly Show along with SiriusXM paid for it,” she shared. “So, what is happening here? It is just a way of lining your pockets. It’s like, ‘Wink wink, Oprah. It sure would be great if you would set up this town hall for us; and we’ll pay you a million dollars for your beautiful set; and then maybe you could endorse us.'”
More Budget Busters
But it wasn’t just Harpo and Winfrey. According to the Free Beacon, Harris’ interview with Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast reportedly ran up a six-figure tab. “There is a report that $100,000 of the money went to build the set for the sex podcast girl that Kamala Harris went on with,” Megyn said. “They’ve got little letters that have the name of the podcast. They’ve got some lights and some books and some plants. How did that cost $100,000?”
Additionally, the rumor mill has suggested performers like Megan Thee Stallion, Eminem, and Lizzo may have been paid up to $5 million each for their services. The claims dovetail with a report from Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle who was among the first to break the news on the debt.
An anonymous Harris campaign staffer told Boyle that campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon blew through money on rallies that doubled as “concerts” at the expense of “prioritizing and spending money on social media and other campaign priorities.” While it was unclear if the talent was paid, the staffer said the production costs were “immense.”
The Net-Net
All of this will ultimately become public in due time via Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, but Megyn said the Democratic Party has some soul searching to do. “This is either a case of absolute waste where nobody mined the shop – and Democrat donors, you might want to pay attention to that – or there is some sort of fraud going on here where the Harris campaign was paying people off,” Megyn said. “I don’t know which it was.”
Either way, Megyn believes Winfrey may not end up being the only celebrity under scrutiny. “Did anybody get paid for these endorsements that we were led to believe were completely organic,” she asked.
In her view, it may not matter. “Do we really care? Because they are all losers. They all lost badly and have been rendered utterly powerless and feckless in the eyes of the electorate,” she concluded. “Nobody will be asking for their endorsement again – at least no one who is smart or who wants to win.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 942 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.