In a radio interview on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris said she was disappointed that major newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post have declined to endorse a candidate in this year’s presidential contest, arguing the papers’ billionaire owners are “in Donald Trump’s club.”

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris said she was disappointed that major newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post have declined to endorse a candidate in this year’s presidential contest, arguing the papers’ billionaire owners are “in Donald Trump’s club"

  • Both newspaper’s decisions came in recent days and were followed by a slew of resignations on each outlets’ opinion staff, as well as hundreds of thousands of subscription cancellations according to NPR and the LA Times

  • The Post has endorsed in every presidential race since 1988 and the LA Times has endorsed in every campaign since 2008

  • Jeff Bezos, who owns the Post, argued in an op-ed that "presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election," but charged they instead "create a perception of bias"

Both newspaper’s decisions came in recent days and were followed by a slew of resignations on each outlets’ opinion staff, as well as hundreds of thousands of subscription cancellations according to NPR and the LA Times.

“It's disappointing, no doubt,” Harris said on “The Breakfast Club,” a nationally syndicated hip hop talk show based out of New York City. “Look, it's billionaires in Donald Trump's club. That's who's in his club. That's who he hangs out with, that's who he cares about.”

“He's not sitting around thinking about what he can do to take care of your grandmother and your grandfather. He's thinking about people like himself or himself and all his grievances,” Harris added.

The Post has endorsed in every presidential race since 1988 and the LA Times has endorsed in every campaign since 2008.

The Post’s owner Jeff Bezos defended his decision to not endorse Harris, despite his outlet reporting an endorsement by the Editorial Board -- separate from the news division -- had been drafted. Legendary Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who broke the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration, and former executive editor Marty Baron slammed the decision.

“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’ None,” Bezos argued in an op-ed on Monday. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

Bezos, the founder of Amazon with an estimated net worth north of $200 billion, conceded the companies he owns have substantial business with the federal government, but argued that the face his executives with his aerospace company Blue Origin met with former President Donald Trump on the day the Post announced its decision did not represent a “quid pro quo.”

Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the LA Times, said he asked his Editorial Board to “draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH candidate during their tenures at the White House, and how these policies affected the nation” as well as analyze each candidates’ policy proposals without offering an endorsement. Instead, his editorials editor resigned, writing in an op-ed for the Boston Globe this week that she fears “it comes down to money” and that both papers’ owners “have substantial business interests that could suffer under a vengeful Trump administration.”

In the radio interview, Harris referenced Trump’s frequent tirades against his political foes and promises to use the federal government to punish those who oppose him, as well as the tax cut he pushed through during his first term that greatly benefitted billionaires and major corporations. 

In a release on Monday, the Trump campaign called the decisions to not endorse by the Post, the LA Times and other outlets was “humiliating” for Harris.

“President Trump — the best closer in politics — has the momentum, the enthusiasm, and the message for the time — and next week, he'll send Kamala back to California for good,” spokesperson Jake Schneider said.