Pro-Trump social media personalities Diamond and Silk claimed Thursday they have never been paid by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, but documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show otherwise.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the filtering practices of social media platforms, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, asked Lynnette Hardaway, “Diamond” in the duo, whether the pair had ever been paid by the Trump campaign.
“No,” Hardaway responded. “We’ve never been paid by the Trump campaign.”
Jackson Lee pressed Hardaway on her response, asking “not $5, not $100?”
“We have never been paid by the Trump campaign,” Hardaway reiterated.
Jackson then asked whether the duo had received $1,274.94, to which Hardaway forcefully asserted “we have never been paid.”
But a campaign finance report—referenced by Lee—the Trump campaign filed with the FEC in May 2017 indicate the campaign paid “Diamond and Silk” $1,274.94 on Nov. 22, 2016 for “field consulting.”
When pressed about the report by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the duo first denied they had received the money and seemed to suggest it was “fake news.”
“We’re familiar with that particular lie. We could see that you do look at fake news,” Rochelle Richardson, “Silk” of Diamond and Silk, responded. “What happened is, and what should’ve happened is you should’ve come to our mouth to see what exactly happened before a false narrative was put out there about the $1,274.94. So let me explain right now to you and the world what actually happened.”
In contentious exchange with Rep. Jeffries, Diamond and Silk say FEC filing showing Diamond and Silk were paid $1,274.94 represents reimbursement for plane tickets, not field consulting work: “We’re familiar with that particular lie. We see that you do look at fake news.” pic.twitter.com/CzguBDLi7F
— ABC News (@ABC) April 26, 2018
The two then clarified they weren’t calling the FEC report “fake” and said the “field consulting” classification on the report was erroneous.
“Nobody is lying. However, there may have been a mistake from the Trump campaign whenever they wrote what the $1,274.94 was for,” Richardson said. “Actually, this was for, because we were asked to join the Women for Trump tour back in 2016, and Miss Lara Trump asked that our airline tickets be refunded back to us because we paid for those tickets when we went from New York to Ohio.”
Richardson said she had an email to substantiate their claim.
“It was for a reimbursement,” she said. “Not field consulting.”
Hardaway once again stressed, “we’ve never bene paid by the Trump campaign.”
Though it’s possible the pair were reimbursed by the Trump campaign for their travel expenses, there is a FEC designation for “travel expense reimbursement.”
The Trump campaign explained the discrepancy Thursday and said it’s the result of a “misunderstanding.”
“The issue regarding Diamond and Silk is merely one of semantics, resulting from a reasonable misunderstanding of the campaign’s reporting obligations,” Brad Crate, the Trump campaign treasurer, said in a statement. “The campaign’s payment to Diamond and Silk for field consulting was based on an invoice they submitted reflecting their costs for air travel to a campaign event. The invoice was not supported by accompanying receipts, so as a technical matter, could not be reported as a reimbursement even though its purpose was to make them whole for their out-of-pocket costs.”
