MSNBC told the Washington Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross for a report on Tuesday that the network was “unaware” that Rev. Al Shaprton’s non-profit organization had received $500,000 in donations from Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, during the same time period he interviewed her on the network.
“MSNBC was unaware of the donations made to the National Action Network,” the MSNBC spokesman told Ross some two weeks after the donation was first reported. Sharpton also did not disclose the donations to network executives, according to the spokesman.
Ross added that the spokesman “wouldn’t say, though, whether the left-wing network is taking any action against Sharpton for a move that appears to violate network policy. Other network hosts like Joe Scarborough have been publicly reprimanded for their failure to disclose making, rather than receiving, political donations.”
The Harris campaign made two separate $250,000 donations to Sharpton’s National Action Network, an anti-discrimination group, on Sept. 5th and Oct. 1, the second coming weeks before Sharpton interviewed Harris on the network.
MSNBC has punished hosts in the past for political activity, most famously Joe Scarborough and Keith Olbermann in 2010. Scarborough was suspended from his show for personal campaign donations made between 2004 and 2008 that he later claimed were made in his name by his wife. Olbermann was suspended for making donations to Democratic congressional candidates.
MSNBC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
