Vice President Kamala Harris’s disastrous presidential election campaign blew through a staggering $1.5 billion, pumping millions of dollars into events featuring out-of-touch celebrities, according to a new report.
According to The New York Times, Harris burned through a whopping $10 million on Election Day eve alone.
As the Democrats became increasingly desperate to beat President Donald Trump, the Harris campaign pumped huge sums of cash to celebrities in return for their endorsements.
Harris’ swing state rallies on the night before Election Day far exceeded the campaign’s planned budget, the report notes.
These pricey celebrity events featured Lady Gaga in Philadelphia, Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit, Christina Aguilera in Nevada, James Taylor in North Carolina, and Katy Perry in Pittsburgh.
While the singers did not receive compensation, the newspaper said officials confirmed that the support staff was compensated.
Part of the higher-than-expected costs came from having to rebuild an entire rally venue in Pittsburgh after the Secret Service said the initial location could not be properly secured, the NY Times reported.
How Harris spent such an exorbitant amount of money during her compressed campaign has left questions as to where all that cash went.
One payment being scrutinized in recent days has been the reported $1 million payment to Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.
An initial report by the Washington Examiner showed the Harris campaign made two $500,000 payments to Winfrey’s Harpo Productions on October 15.
The payments were made a month after Winfrey’s town hall with the vice president and weeks before the pair appeared at a Harris Philadelphia rally.
Now, two sources have told the Times that the full price of the event with Winfrey was closer to $2.5 million.
A Harpo Productions spokesperson acknowledged to Variety that the company took money from the campaign.
However, the company claimed the payment 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.
Other major costs for Harris’s failed campaign included $111 million in online ads seeking donations.
The campaign also blew about $50 million for door-to-door canvassers and $2.5 million paid to three digital agencies who work with online influencers, The Times reported.
Eyebrow-raising expenses were listed in a Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing.
According to the FEC filing, the Harris campaign spent $2,626,110 on private jet flights in the month of October alone.
The costs ranged from $3,500 to $940,000 per disbursement.
$2.2 million went to a company named Private Jet Services Group, while $430,000 went to Advanced Aviation Team, a charter flight broker.
The Harris campaign is believed to be $20 million in debt.
However, Harris campaign chief financial officer Patrick Stauffer said in a statement reported by the Times that “there will be no debt” on the upcoming December filings for the campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
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