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\n President Donald Trump over the weekend called for the prosecution of music superstar Beyonc\u00e9 \u2013 based on something that did not actually happen.\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump claimed in a social media post<\/a> that Beyonc\u00e9 broke the law by supposedly getting paid $11 million for her endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during an October 2024 event in Houston<\/a>. But there is simply no basis for Trump\u2019s claim that Beyonc\u00e9 received an $11 million payment related to the Harris campaign, let alone for the endorsement in particular.\n <\/p>\n \n Federal campaign spending records show a $165,000 payment<\/a> from the Harris campaign to Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s production company, which the campaign listed as a \u201ccampaign event production\u201d expense. A Harris campaign spokesperson told Deadline<\/a> last year that they didn\u2019t pay celebrity endorsers, but were required by law to cover the costs connected to their appearances.\n <\/p>\n \n Regardless of the merits of this particular $165,000 expenditure, it\u2019s far from an $11 million one. Nobody has ever produced any evidence for the claim of an eight-figure endorsement payment to Beyonc\u00e9 since the claim that it was \u201c$10 million\u201d began spreading last year among Trump supporters on social media. Fact-check websites FactCheck.org<\/a> and PolitiFact<\/a> looked into the \u201c$10 million\u201d claim during the campaign and did not find any basis for it.\n <\/p>\n \n The White House did not immediately respond to a CNN request late Saturday for any evidence of Trump\u2019s $11 million figure. When Trump previously invoked the baseless figure, during an interview in February<\/a>, he described his source in the vaguest of terms: \u201cSomebody just showed me something. They gave her $11 million.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A Harris spokesperson referred CNN on Saturday to a November social media post<\/a> by Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s mother Tina Knowles, who called the claim of a $10 million payment a \u201clie\u201d and noted it was taken down by Instagram as \u201cFalse Information.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen In Fact: Beyonce did not receive a penny for speaking at a Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harrris\u2019s (sic) Rally in Houston,\u201d Knowles wrote.\n <\/p>\n \n A spokesperson for Beyonc\u00e9 told PolitiFact in November<\/a> that the claim about a $10 million payment is \u201cbeyond ridiculous.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump revived the false claim in a social media post<\/a> published after midnight early Sunday morning in Scotland, where he is visiting. He wrote that he is looking at \u201cthe fact\u201d that Democrats \u201cadmit to paying, probably illegally, Eleven Million Dollars to singer Beyonc\u00e9 for an ENDORSEMENT.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Democratic officials actually reject the claim of an $11 million payment. The White House did not immediately respond to CNN\u2019s request for any evidence of a Democratic admission of such a payment.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump went on to criticize other payments from the Harris campaign to organizations connected to prominent endorsers. He asserted without evidence that these payments were inaccurately described in spending records. And he wrongly asserted that it is \u201cTOTALLY ILLEGAL\u201d to pay for political endorsements, though no federal law<\/a> forbids<\/a> endorsement payments<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump concluded: \u201cKamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted! Thank you for your attention to this matter.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has repeatedly called for the prosecution of political opponents. His Saturday post about Harris and celebrity endorsements was an escalation from a post<\/a> in May, when he said he would call for a \u201cmajor investigation\u201d on the subject but did not explicitly mention prosecutions.\n <\/p>\n ![\"Singer](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2024-10-26t033148z-1904377680-rc22saazhfmy-rtrmadp-3-usa-election-harris-beyonce.JPG\")
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