As the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's death nears, misinformation over the last year's protests began circulating recently. One such claim stated that last summer — when Black Lives Matter protests were at peak following Floyd's death — Vice President Kamala Harris made a donation to a Minnesota nonprofit that helped jailed protesters get bail to "break more laws."
The nonprofit at the center of the claim is the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) that received support from Harris last year, when she was California's senator. At the time she encouraged her supporters to donate to MFF during Black Lives Matter protests that were triggered after Floyd's killing by a white Minneapolis police officer.
However, Harris did not make a donation to MFF during the protests or even before the demonstrations, fact-checking website Snopes reported, citing the nonprofit's records. The report also added that there was no evidence that showed MFF paid bonds for arrests during the protests.
Harris' support for Black Lives Matter has been a bone of contention for some conservatives. After then-U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden announced that he chose Harris as his running mate, the Trump campaign wrongly said that she encouraged Americans to help people who were arrested during the Black Lives Matter protests.
"Kamala Harris encouraged Americans to donate to the so-called Minnesota Freedom Fund — do you know that is? — which bailed out the rioters, looters, assaulters, and anarchists from jail," then-President Donald Trump last August.
Last week, Sen. Lindsay Graham reiterated the false claim and said that the Vice President could be impeached if the Republicans retake the majority. His comments came after Trump was acquitted in the second impeachment trial.
"He is the first president to ever be impeached without a lawyer, without a witness, without an ability to confront those against him and the trial record was a complete joke, hearsay upon hearsay, and we've opened Pandora's box to future presidents," Graham told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.
"And if you use this model, I don't know how Kamala Harris doesn't get impeached if the Republicans take over the House," Graham said. "Because she actually bailed out rioters and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody's head open. So, we've opened Pandora's Box here and I'm sad for the country?"
