Trump calls for Kamala Harris’ prosecution over alleged paid celebrity endorsements

New York: US President Donald Trump has demanded the prosecution of former vice president Kamala Harris, alleging that she paid a “large amount of money” to celebrity artists for endorsements during last year’s presidential election.

"YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PAY FOR AN ENDORSEMENT. IT IS TOTALLY ILLEGAL TO DO SO. Can you imagine what would happen if politicians started paying for people to endorse them. All hell would break out!" Trump said in a social media post on Saturday.

Harris was Trump's Democratic opponent during the 2024 presidential race, which the 79-year-old Republican leader eventually won, securing a second term in the White House.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that celebrities Beyonce, Oprah and Al Sharpton were paid "ridiculous fees" for "endorsement" and "expenses".

"Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted!" he said.

According to The Hill newspaper, Oprah previously said she “was not paid a dime” to appear alongside Harris at a live-streamed event. However, production fees were covered by the campaign.

“The people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.

While the Harris campaign denied paying Beyonce for an endorsement, Federal Election Commission records show it paid USD 165,000 to her production company.

According to the newspaper, such reimbursements are commonly linked to large-scale event production and cannot be donated to political campaigns.