President Donald Trump escalated his threats to prosecute megastar performer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter in a Monday morning rant on his Truth Social platform.
"According to news reports, Beyoncé was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed, NOT EVEN ONE SONG!" Trump wrote. "Remember, the Democrats and Kamala illegally paid her millions of Dollars for doing nothing other than giving Kamala a full throated ENDORSEMENT."
"THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL! IT IS AN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION! BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OPRAH, BONO AND, PERHAPS, MANY OTHERS, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!"
The tirade is the latest installment of anger in reaction to Springsteen, another Democratic campaign surrogate, condemning his administration as "treasonous" during a tour abroad.
Trump initially lashed out on Friday, calling Springsteen a "dried out prune of a rocker" and warning he would be in trouble when he returns to the United States.
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The president then followed up in the dead of Monday morning with another post alleging that Springsteen, Beyoncé, Bono, and Oprah Winfrey were breaking the law: "How much did Kamala Harris pay Bruce Springsteen for his poor performance during her campaign for president? Why did he accept that money if he is such a fan of hers? Isn't that a major and illegal campaign contribution? What about Beyoncé? ... And how much went to Oprah, and Bono?"
The claim that Beyoncé and Oprah were paid to endorse Harris has been disputed, with sources close to both saying the campaign paid their production companies to compensate their workers for time and travel, but that neither celebrity took any personal fee. And even if any of these celebrities had been personally paid for endorsements, experts say that would be legal as long as the payments were properly disclosed.