FACT CHECK: CBS News Affiliate Misleads On Donald Trump Claim About Kamala Harris And Bail Fund

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

A post shared by CBS Minnesota on X claims that former President Donald Trump said that Vice President Kamala Harris donated to a bail fund.

Verdict: Misleading

While Trump said that Harris had helped dangerous criminals get out of jail, he did not explicitly say that Harris donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Harris did send out a tweet supporting the fund, and the donation link remains active.

Fact Check:

CBS News Minnesota claims that Trump accused Harris of donating to the Minnesota Freedom Fund and bailing out dangerous criminals. It labeled these claims as false. The original headline of the article was “Trump falsely accuses Harris of donating to Minnesota Freedom Fund, bailing out ‘dangerous criminals.'”

“Trump falsely accuses Harris of donating to Minnesota Freedom Fund, bailing out ‘dangerous criminals,'” the tweet reads. (RELATED: J.D. Vance Claims Donald Trump Opposed 2003 Iraq Invasion While Biden Supported)

This tweet is misleading. Trump never explicitly said that Harris donated money to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. During a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina Trump said, “One of the dangerous criminals Kamala helped bail out of jail was Shawn Michael Tillman.”

“You know that name. A repeat offender who, with Harris’s help, was set free. He then went on to murder a man on a train platform in St. Paul, Minnesota, shooting him in cold blood six times, lying on the ground,” Trump said.

Nowhere in that sentence did Trump explicitly say that Harris donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Harris also posted a link to the Minnesota Freedom Fund in June 2020, and it is possible that funds raised by that link could have contributed to people bailed out post-2020.

Andrew Kerr, an investigative reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, showed on X that the link was still active and accepting money. (Disclaimer: This reporter worked with Kerr as an intern for the Daily Caller News Foundation in 2018.)

“If you look veeeeery closely you’ll notice Kamala’s face and campaign logo is plastered all over her ActBlue page for the Fund, which is still live and accepting money right now,” Kerr tweeted.

Screenshot/ActBlue

The link is still active as of publishing time. Check Your Fact also took a screenshot of the page, which shows Harris and a slogan.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund also bailed out Shawn Michael Tillman in 2022 for $2,000 after he was arrested for indecent exposure, according to ABC 4. He was later arrested for murder, the outlet reported.

“Minnesota Freedom Fund has learned that Shawn Michael Tillman, who is currently charged with second degree murder in St. Paul, is an individual to whom we previously provided bail support on a gross misdemeanor charge unrelated to the charges for which Mr. Tillman is currently on trial. It is a tragedy and a profound loss when a member of our community is taken by violence, and our thoughts are with the victim’s family as they seek justice for their loved one through the criminal legal system,” reads part of a statement from the Minnesota Freedom Fund from 2022 (it appears to have since been deleted.)

The Minnesota Freedom Fund also stated to CBS News Minnesota that “[i]t is not correct that then-Sen. Harris has donated to our organization. We have no relationship with Harris beyond a single four-year-old tweet.”

CBS News Minnesota later changed its headline to “Despite Trump claim and 2020 tweet showing support, Harris never donated to Minnesota Freedom Fund.” (RELATED: No, Trump Did Not Say Bullet From Rally Shooting Took His ‘Entire Ear Off’)

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Check Your Fact that “Trump is right.”

“President Trump is right. Kamala Harris raised money for a bail fund for an individual who was charged for shooting at police. He didn’t even dispute shooting at police and Kamala raised money for his bail. Kamala is dangerously liberal and weak on crime and voters deserve to know about her record,” Leavitt said.

Shawn Michael Tillman, who Trump referenced in his rally, was not arrested for shooting at police. The “individual who was charged for shooting at police” is likely a reference to Jaleel Stallings, who was charged with attempted murder but was acquitted of all charges and later settled with Minneapolis for $1.5 million. Check Your Fact previously fact-checked a post from the Trump campaign about Stallings.

Check Your Fact reached out to an email associated with CBS News Minnesota for comment.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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