EXCLUSIVE — Vice President Kamala Harris has refunded a campaign donation she received from a Muslim cleric who shared antisemitic content on social media, a Harris campaign official told the Washington Examiner.
Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, returned a $500 check that was directed to her campaign in August from imam Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, the campaign official said. Zaman, as the Washington Examiner first reported, was dubbed a “master teacher” in 2018 by Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), who often hosted Zaman for events as the governor of Minnesota.
“They should have never accepted a single cent from a Hitler-promoting cleric like Asad Zaman,” said Sam Markstein, a spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition. “It’s a shame that people like Asad Zaman feel that they have a home in today’s Democratic Party.”
Zaman came under fire from the Anti-Defamation League and the Republican Jewish Coalition over his history of sharing antisemitic content on social media, including a Hamas press release and a link in 2015 to a website for a pro-Hitler film called The Greatest Story Never Told. The imam spoke at Walz’s 2019 inauguration, among other events.
The Washington Examiner learned that Harris returned the Zaman donation after locating it on the Federal Election Commission’s website and reaching out to the Harris campaign for comment. A Harris campaign official replied that the committee had now decided to refund the money.
Zaman did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. It was Zaman’s first contribution to a federal political campaign committee since 2020, financial disclosures show.
Harris’s decision to refund Zaman’s donation appears to be the second example of her campaign attempting to distance itself from the imam. In August, the Harris campaign insisted in a statement to CNN that Walz and Zaman do “not have a personal relationship,” adding, “Governor Walz strongly condemns Hamas terrorism.”
Former President Donald Trump criticized Walz in August over his ties to Zaman, saying in a speech in New Jersey to Jewish community leaders that Walz “knew him for a long time.” On Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, Zaman said he “stands in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli attacks.”
That day last year, Zaman also shared a social media post by Yusuf Abdi Abdulle, the director of the Islamic Association of North America, declaring that “Palestine has the right to defend itself.” Abdulle insisted in the post that the Biden-Harris administration was “on the wrong side of history” in “supporting the extremist Zionist regime and its illegal settlements.”
“Imam Zaman has a troubling history of playing into classic anti-Jewish themes and justifying violence against Israel,” a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League previously said.
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“He also has justified violence against Israel, including from terror groups,” the ADL spokesperson said. “Given his hurtful remarks post-Oct. 7, and absent any recognition of the pain he has caused the Jewish community, we urge all public officials and leaders to avoid meeting with him in the future. Those who have met with Imam Zaman should clarify that they don’t agree with his toxic views about Jews and the Jewish state.”
To mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff delivered remarks Monday and planted a memorial tree on the grounds of the vice president’s residence in honor of the victims.