Over a decade ago, years before Donald Trump imagined he'd be president let alone imagined he could be running against her, he donated $6,000 to Kamala Harris's campaign to become California's attorney general.

The news about Trump's donation to Harris's center-left AG campaign in California is not new. The Sacramento Bee pointed this out back in August 2020, as Trump was running for a second term in office, and shortly before Joe Biden named Harris as his running mate. And Trump had been confronted with the question of his previous donations to Democrats during a 2015 Republican primary debate.

Trump said, at the time, that this was typically just "the cost of doing business" and  a precursor to a potential quid pro quo down the line. "I give to to everybody," Trump said. "They call, I give. And you know what, when I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me."

But there's no evidence that Harris ever contacted Trump or that either ever asked the other for any favors. The New York Times notes, though, that the donations to Harris's California AG campaigns came during a period when Trump University was facing a class-action lawsuit from students who felt they were duped by the scam school — which sold seminars that spuriously claimed to be able to turn people into pro real estate investors, but mostly just took tens of thousands of dollars in tuition from each.

The "university" operated from 2005 to 2010, and tried to capitalize on Trump's notoriety on The Apprentice. By 2018, Trump was settling the class-action suit for $25 million.

There may have been some fear that states' attorneys general would also bring suits against the sham school, and the Trump organization was heading that off by throwing some donations their way — though this is not confirmed.

The Sac Bee reports that Ivanka Trump also gave $2,000 to Kamala Harris's AG campaign in 2014.



Harris would later join the Senate in 2017, getting elected in 2016 to fill the seat formerly occupied by Senator Barbara Boxer.

She had been a rising star in the Democratic Party throughout the last decade, and her name was even briefly floated as a potential Supreme Court nominee following the February 2016 death of Antonin Scalia. As the Bee recounts, some pundits even began calling Harris "the female Obama" — which might have been a little insulting to Michelle? — due to how much surrogate campaigning she did for Obama during his presidential runs.

Trump will likely try to bring up some of Harris's past positions and accomplishments as a California politicians, should she end up winning the nomination. For now, the Trump camp is sticking to attacking Harris for being part of the cabal that was covering for President Biden and, they say, obfuscating about his mental and physical decline. Attack ads that are already rolling out in swing states show Harris, in recent weeks and months, speaking publicly about Biden and saying things like, "Our president is in good shape, in good health, tireless, vibrant..."

No challengers to Harris as the Democratic nominee have emerged in the first 24 hours since Biden's surprise Sunday announcement, but they still may. In the meantime, major Democratic players like Nancy Pelosi have issued their endorsements of Harris, as support within the party appears to grow.

The first 24 hours of Harris's campaign has already brought in $81 million, which organizers say has largely come in small donations from 888,000 grassroots donors.

Related: SF Democratic Party Hosting City Hall 'Unity Rally' For Kamala Harris Monday Morning

Top image: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visits Smize & Dream Ice Cream shop on July 19, 2024 in Washington, DC. Harris made the stop as pressure continues to increase on President Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)