The Democratic National Committee is taking heat from the right for donating the money it received last cycle from film producer Harvey Weinstein to a trio of liberal political groups, rather than nonprofits that benefit women who are the victims of violence.
The DNC joined nearly a dozen senators on Friday in giving away money it had received from Weinstein, a Democratic mega-donor, in the wake of a bombshell New York Times report this week accusing him of serial sexual harassment.
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The DNC has received about $300,000 from Weinstein over the years, federal election records show.
The DNC said it will donate the $30,000 it received from him in the last campaign cycle to EMILY’s List, which supports women candidates that support abortion rights, Emerge America, which recruits and trains Democratic women for office, and Higher Heights, which supports black women running for office.
The DNC said it chose the three groups “because what we need is more women in power, not men like [President] Trump who continue to show us that they lack respect for more than half of America.”
But the DNC quickly came under fire for not giving the full amount it had received from Weinstein over the years, and for donating to political groups that seek to elect Democrats.
“The DNC’s response to the Harvey Weinstein matter is shockingly bad — even by Washington standards,” said Alexandra Smith, executive director for the Republican opposition firm America Rising. “‘Donating’ a mere 10 percent of the entire Weinstein contribution to another left-leaning political action committee is a complete embarrassment.”
Nearly a dozen Democratic senators have said they will donate Weinstein’s contributions to nonprofit groups that help women who have been the victims of abuse.
“The allegations in the New York Times report are deeply troubling,” DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa told The Hill. “The Democratic party condemns all forms of sexual harassment and assault. We hope that Republicans will do the same as we mark one year since the release of a tape showing President Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women followed by more than a dozen women who came forward to detail similar experiences of assault and harassment.”
-Updated 5:34 p.m.