CNN's Daniel Dale examined President Donald Trump's claims about music superstar Beyoncé and other celebrities who backed the Kamala Harris campaign Monday — and dismissed them as nonsense.
The president claimed Beyoncé had broken the law by supposedly getting paid $11 million to endorse the vice president against him in November's election, but Dale found no basis to his claims calling for her prosecution.
"The president posted on social media after midnight in Scotland on Sunday morning, where he's visiting, and he wrote, 'I'm looking at the large amount of money owed by the Democrats after the presidential election and the fact that they admit to paying, probably illegally, $11 million to singer Beyoncé for an endorsement,'" Dale said, "and he went on to say later in the post, 'Kamala and all of those that received endorsement money broke the law, they should all be prosecuted.' So he's calling for the prosecution of Beyoncé for getting paid $11 million to endorse Harris."
"Problem is, she did not get paid $11 million to endorse Harris," Dale added. "There is not a shred of evidence for the supposed $11 million payment. These claims have been circulating among, you know, obscure, random, low-level Trump supporters on social media since the fall. Nobody has produced any support for it, and the White House did not respond to my request for comment when I reached out this weekend.
"Now federal election spending records do show a $165,000 payment from the Harris campaign to Beyoncé's production company in the wake of the October 2024 event where Beyoncé appeared with then-Vice President Harris. But two things about that: First of all, there's no evidence this was quid pro quo payment for an endorsement. The Harris campaign said at the time that they are obligated by law to cover the ancillary costs related to celebrity appearances at their event, and second of all, $165,000 is not $11 million, the figure the president keeps using."
The president's source for the unverified claim remains unclear, Dale said.
"Now I did reach out to the Harris team about this," Dale said. "They didn't comment, but they referred me to a November 2024 post by Beyoncé's mom, who I never thought would be one of my fact-check sources. But she wrote on social media back then that this claim was a lie, Beyoncé did not get this money. Now I reached out to the White House. They didn't say anything, but I went looking to see what the president has said about this in the past. He attributed this claim in February to somebody just having showed him something, so the president himself has not specified where he got it either."
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