Business to politics: Before he became Republican, Trump donated to Biden, Harris!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Soon after President Joe Biden decided to hang his boots and back Vice President Kamala Harris as a Democratic hopeful for the November 5 election, interesting details are tumbling out on how the Republican contender, Donald Trump, once used to donate to those he is fighting against now.
Grapevine has it that Trump decided to become a Republican and challenge the Democrats after then-President Barack Obama (2009-17) snubbed him at a dinner by making him sit in a back row. Infuriated, the businessman decided to go hammer and tongs against the Democrats and plunge into politics from the other end—the Republican Party.
Now, the media has reported that before all this, Trump used to donate funds to the elections of both Biden and Harris and other Democratic candidates. Details of these donations have now gone viral on social media.
Financial records, according to the media reports, show that on September 26, 2011, and February 20, 2013, when Harris was a candidate for the office of California’s Attorney-General, Trump donated USD 6,000 in two installments of USD 5,000 and USD 1,000 to her campaigns, respectively.
Even his daughter, Ivanka Trump, donated USD 2,000 to Senator Harris’ campaign in 2014, The Washington Post reported. Reacting to these reports, an embarrassed spokesperson of Harris clarified that she did not ask Trump for the donation and that Harris gave the funds to a nonprofit organization that “advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans” during the start of Trump’s presidential campaign.
According to a Newsweek report, Trump used to donate heavily to Democrats at that time. He also gave then-senator Joe Biden’s campaign USD 1,000 in 2001. In 2002, he donated USD 5,000 to the New York State Democratic Party.
Besides, Trump also donated USD 10,000 to Andrew Cuomo in support of his candidacy for Attorney-General of New York in 2006 and USD 15,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 2010, he backed Kristen Gillibrand’s campaign for the US Senate.
Trump made multiple donations to the campaigns of his future opponent Hillary Clinton as well, including two contributions of USD 2,100 and USD 200, respectively, in 2006 and an additional USD 600 in 2007. He was also reported to have donated USD 100,000 to the nonprofit Clinton Foundation.
