Former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, called out how one of Kamala Harris’ “biggest donors is doubling down on calling half the country ‘garbage.'”
Vinod Khosla, co-founder of the giant tech company Sun Microsystems, wrote on X “Garbage is an understatement for MAGA extremists.” He responded to a story by the Associated Press titled, “Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico.”
“Will Kamala and her campaign return his contributions?” Vance wrote Wednesday. “Or will they continue to insult half of the country for the sin of thinking Kamala Harris isn’t good at her job?”
Khosla is a billionaire and Democratic megadonor. In June, he gave $413,000 to the Harris Action Fund, a political action committee that supports the vice president. He previously donated $100,000 to the PAC in June 2023 and made two separate $3,300 donations to the Biden for President campaign, which Harris took over after President Biden withdrew from the election.
KAMALA HARRIS SILENT AFTER BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT TRUMP SUPPORTERS
Vinod Khosla, founder and partner of Khosla Ventures, during TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, California, US, on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. TechCrunch Disrupt is a 3-day conference focused on breaking technology news and developments with thought leaders who are making waves in the industry. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Harris addressed Biden’s controversial remark Wednesday, telling reporters that the president “clarified his comments.”
“I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” she said, adding that Biden called her the night before but his remarks didn’t come up.
Biden sparked controversy during a Zoom call on Tuesday with Voto Latino, one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S. On the call, Biden was asked about a comment made Sunday during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
GOP candidate for vice president Sen. JD Vance demanded that the Harris campaign return donations from Khosla after the billionaire called “MAGA extremists” “garbage.” (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said.
Amid backlash, Biden claimed he was referring to only Hinchcliffe, and the White House released a transcript of the call that said “supporter’s,” in the possessive.
TRUMP HAS ANOTHER RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT GOP SUPPORTERS
Khosla has donated more than $400,000 to PACs supporting the Harris campaign. (Vaughn Ridley/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images)
“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden posted on X.
Though Harris has not commented on Biden’s remark, her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, discussed it on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
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“The president’s clarified his remarks, but let’s be very clear. The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end. He called this a garbage country and continues on from ‘the enemy within.’ What you heard Vice President Harris say and what I say is, there’s a place for all of us here, and I think that’s the one. She’s running for president. She’s making the message and she delivered that speech on the Ellipse that showed what we can be as a country,” said Walz.
“So, I think America knows the direction we’re going. She’s laid out a new way forward, and that’s what we’re going to do for the next six days and then the next eight years after that.”
Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald contributed to this report.