Why is Trump calling for the prosecution of Kamala Harris, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Al Sharpton?

President Donald Trump made several false claims related to the 2024 presidential election and suggested his former Democratic opponent and others should face criminal charges.

President Donald Trump called for the prosecution of former Vice President Kamala Harris, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, and civil rights leader, the Rev. Al Sharpton, accusing Harris of paying the high-profile stars to endorse her 2024 presidential campaign.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump called out the Democratic Party’s financial debt post-election. The president falsely claimed that Democrats “admit” to “illegally” paying Beyoncé $11 million for an endorsement of Harris.

“She never sang, not one note, and left the stage to a booing and angry audience!” Trump falsely wrote about Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland’s appearance at a Harris rally in their hometown of Houston, Texas.

While it is true that Beyoncé did not sing or perform at the rally, as many fans had hoped, considering Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” was Harris’s campaign theme song, there is no evidence that she was booed by the audience. However, Trump may be incorrectly referencing a video at the Oct. 25, 2024, rally that shows the audience booing to drown out a protester who interrupted Harris’s speech–a frequent occurrence at her rallies amid outrage over Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

The Harris campaign and Beyoncé’s camp have previously disputed the false claims that she was paid to endorse Harris. However, records from the Federal Election Commission show that the campaign did pay Beyoncé’s production company, Parkwood Production Media LLC, $165,000. As a campaign spokesperson had previously noted, the payment is legally required for event productions associated with talent like Beyoncé.

In his Truth Social post, Trump also named $3 million in expenses paid to Winfrey, who hosted a primetime TV special in support of Harris. Winfrey, who is worth more than $3 billion and denied the “lie” that she was paid for her live sit-down interview with Harris, explained that her campaign’s production company, Harpo Productions, was similarly reimbursed $1 million for production costs.

Trump also claimed that Sharpton, who runs the nonprofit organization National Action Network, was paid $600,000 by the campaign for his endorsement. The president also wrote that Sharpton was a “low-rated TV anchor,” referring to his gig at MSNBC. Sharpton previously explained that the payments were donations to his nonprofit and that neither he nor National Action Network made an endorsement in the presidential contest.

Despite these facts, Trump said, “These ridiculous fees were incorrectly stated in the books and records. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PAY FOR AN ENDORSEMENT. IT IS TOTALLY ILLEGAL TO DO SO.”

He added, “Can you imagine what would happen if politicians started paying for people to endorse them. All hell would break out! Kamala, and all of those that received (sic) Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross dismissed Trump’s false claims about Beyoncé, Oprah, and Sharpton, arguing that he is fixated on last year’s election because of Harris’s crowd sizes.

“Even though he won in 2024, took all of the battleground states, no question, he is still gravely bothered by the crowds that Kamala Harris got out. And to negate the fact that that was done by sheer excitement, he is trying to throw his own conspiracy theory out,” Cross told theGrio.

She added, “He was bothered by the extent of superstars who were able to come and show up. Because, remember, he couldn’t get anybody. He got all the B, C and D-list, folks.”

Cross also suggested what many critics have said about Trump over the past few weeks: he’s simply trying to distract from the political controversy over his connection to convicted sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his administration’s refusal to release FBI files related to his criminal case–despite a campaign promise to do so.

“Donald Trump wants to talk about anything that’s not Epstein, because he hates guilt by association,” said Cross, who suggested that the Epstein scandal isn’t going away.

Trump’s MAGA base of supporters has long been fixated on the Epstein files, hoping to uncover evidence of the wealthy and powerful, especially Democrats, being involved in the execution or cover-up of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring that involved minor girls. Even Epstein’s suicide has been a point of conspiracy theories, as some believe he was murdered in an effort to keep his secrets silent

Referring to the president’s penchant for pushing conspiracy theories, including the racist birther conspiracy about former President Barack Obama, Cross explained, “Once you have stoked that level of instigation around conspiracy theories, there is nothing you can give [his base] that will make them stop.”

She added, “That’s how conspiracy theory works. We’re still trying to figure out the magic bullet theory, how many years after JFK’s assassination?”