Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will donate $2,700 he received from film producer Harvey Weinstein for his reelection campaign to charity, a spokesperson for the senator said, after it was reported that Weinstein had allegedly sexually harassed employees and actresses for decades.
Weinstein had not just donated to Leahy, but to various Democratic politicians and liberal organizations during the past campaign cycle, including the re-election campaign of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is the Senate minority leader; Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Votes PAC; and the Democratic National Committee in 2016.
Leahy is the first to give away Weinstein’s donation, according to a report from the Daily Beast on Thursday.
America Rising, a right-wing organization dedicated to “exposing the truth about Democrats,” called for Democrats who’ve accepted donations from Weinstein to either return them or donate them to charity.
“If the Democratic Party purports itself to be the champion of women, they ought to lead by example in returning or donating the donations received from Harvey Weinstein,” the America Rising PAC said in a statement.
In addition to financially supporting various politicians and political organizations, the filmmaker has also financially contributed to largely successful motion pictures.
The producer intends to take a leave of absence from work to “deal with this issue head on.”
