FACT CHECK: Kamala Harris Peddles Dangerous Misinformation

Democrats

VP implies she never supported controversial bail fund that put violent offenders back on the street. (She did.)

Andrew Stiles • October 25, 2022 2:30 pm

What happened: Vice President Kamala Harris went to Minnesota over the weekend and was asked about her support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a controversial organization that has helped put violent offenders back on the street. Harris argued that those criticizing—or simply pointing out—her support for the fund were “playing political games” and peddling “misinformation and disinformation.”

The bottom line: Harris did promote the Minnesota Freedom Fund, urging supporters to donate in June 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota,” Harris wrote on Twitter.

Why it matters: The Minnesota Freedom Fund raised tens of millions of dollars in the weeks following Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The group used a small portion of those funds—just $210,000 out of the $3.5 million it had spent by September 2020—to post bail for individuals arrested during the violent protests, riots, and looting that followed.

• Once the protests had died down, the Minnesota Freedom Fund used its massive fundraising haul to post bail for violent offenders who would go on to be charged with murder following their release. In August 2021, the fund bailed out career criminal George Howard following his arrest on a domestic violence charge. Three weeks later, he was charged with murder after allegedly shooting a 38-year-old Hispanic man during a road rage incident.

• The fund also helped secure the release of Shawn Michael Tillman, a repeat felon who was arrested for murder in May 2022 after allegedly shooting a passenger on a train platform in St. Paul. Tillman had previously been convicted on multiple counts of indecent exposure, as well as assault and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was released from jail weeks before the alleged murder after the Minnesota Freedom Fund posted his bail following another arrest for indecent exposure.

What they’re saying: Glenn Kessler, the top fact-checker at the Washington Post, didn’t even bother to assess Harris’s claim. He simply re-upped his so-called fact check from two years ago, which criticized Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) for writing: “Kamala Harris helped violent rioters in Minnesota get out of jail to

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