Just days after the election when media outlets and Democrat strategists were poring through the Kamala Harris campaign’s finance records to see how much of the $1 billion in donations received were wasted, among the shady things discovered were two donations totaling $500,000 to Al Sharpton’s non-profit group, the National Action Network (NAN).
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The donations from the Harris campaign, according to a Free Beacon report at the time, were made on Sept. 5th and Oct. 1st. Just two days after the October donation to NAN, MSNBC aired a video on Sharpton’s show featuring Harris sharing a happy birthday greeting, and calling him “a voice of truth, a voice of conscience.”
Two weeks later, he and Harris sat down for a chummy interview, where he asked questions that “lined up closely with messages that Harris sought to highlight on the campaign trail.” Missing during their back-and-forth exchange was full disclosure from Sharpton about the donations.
SEE ALSO:Staffer Goes off on Al Sharpton and MSNBC for Their Grift Op With the Kamala Campaign
In the aftermath of the report, MSNBC denied knowing anything about the donations and refused to say whether it would take action after finding out about it despite also being criticized by groups like The Society of Professional Journalists.
Though MSNBC and Sharpton appear to want to sweep this story under the rug, it’s not going anywhere thanks in part to a national black church group that is demanding the struggling network suspend Sharpton pending an investigation, saying integrity matters and that what he did makes the media and the black church look bad.
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In a post on Facebook, here’s what the National Black Church Initiative wrote:
The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a coalition of 150,000 African American churches, which constitute over 27.7 million churchgoers, is very concerned that one of our leaders appears to be selling our voting to Kamala Harris’s campaign. The question is, what did VP Kamala Harris get for $500,000?
For many ministers, this type of action puts a moral stain on the integrity of the black Church. The Rev. Al Sharpton needs to fully disclose the nature of the $500,000, why it was given and received, and for what purpose. Where are the receipts? And did Rev. Sharpton receive any funds, and if so, what and for what purpose? There are a lot of questions to be answered.
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Do you have to pay Al Sharpton through a donation to his organization to get on his show or get a favorable interview? African Americans have long complained about the deal that made Rev. Sharpton a journalist. Rev. Sharpton does not have a degree in journalism, and it undermines the career of black men and women who have more experience and journalism integrity.
The National Black Church Initiative demands that MSNBC launch an investigation into the donation or payment by the Harris campaign. We will support Rev. Sharpton’s suspension until the investigation is complete.
In all the talk about the threat to our democracy, someone forgot to articulate that free, open, objective, and transparent press is an essential component of the building blocks to preserve our democracy’s integrity.
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So far, there’s been no response from MSNBC nor Sharpton to the group’s demand for an investigation and suspension. But it’s awesome to see that the NBCI is not going to let this scandal go away – because it shouldn’t.
FLASHBACK:Al Sharpton Hears About It After Telling Black Trump Supporters They Have ‘No Shame’